Russell profile picture

Russell

carlossurething

About Me

I'm alright, me. On a good day.
You Are Expressionism
Moody, emotional, and even a bit angsty... you certainly know how to express your emotions.
At times, you tend to lack perspective on your life, probably as a result of looking inward too much.
This introspection does give you a flair for the dramatic. And it's even maybe made you cultivate some artistic talents!
You have a true artist's temperament... which is a blessing and a curse. What Art Movement Are You?
Is quite partial to / likes / loves:
Spending time using Facebook instead of this - although, this does include more personal info about memememememememememememememe.SELF-OBSESSION. Procrastination. Music what I think is good, like. Films what I think are good, like. Having an organised structure to my life and activities that takes away the pressure of wondering what I ought to be doing instead. The possibility that my being slightly embarassed by/ashamed of enjoying eating will stave off the semi-inevitable onset of obesity in later years. Biscuits. Multiple choice tests: the infinite potential of an open question and several blank pages is just inviting disappointment. Fleeting moments of togetherness. Mildly obsessing over things I've recently become interested in, looking up reviews / articles / Wikipedia pages for it, and memorising as much as I can, before the obsession dies down and I sort of leave it alone or tire of it. Being in the mood to watch an entire film, and feeling afterwards that I got as much as it/I deserved out of it. Not being interrupted during such viewings/attempts at such viewings. Making cynical bids to receive compliments from others by speaking ill of myself. The miniscule ego boost that comes with the "achievement" that is making it all the way through a film or album in one sitting.Cider, nearly all varieties of (except the ferociously potent, and therefore evil, Biddenden's.) www.imdb.com www.wikipedia.org Ready-made sandwiches, especially: Egg & Bacon; Chicken & Bacon. Being drunk and relaxed. "Getting" clever references and in-jokes. String-bending. Alphabeticising. Material gratification. Lead guitarists. Pronouncing "route" as "root" and not "rowt." Peppering my typing with occasional idiosyncrasies and anachronisms for comic effect. Whimsical text messages and emails. Knowing (roughly) what "idiosyncrasy" and "anachronism" mean. Lists. Really nice, good nights out, that don't end in bitterness, vomiting or unconsciousness. "When a plan comes together." Making people laugh when I'm actually trying to be funny. Not having to go out of my way to accomplish this. "Deep" one-to-one conversations over a pint or similar. Dismissing viewpoints contrary to my own as "purely subjective, not an indisputable fact", while all the while knowing that I'm right, actually. Having hair like a girl. Said hair covering my face for dramatic, moody, unsociable, impassioned or anonymous effect. Tiptoeing elaborately around or between obstacles. Reading this page back and thinking "so true..." Responding with a deep voice to those who would mistake me for a member of the fairer sex. Spending un unseemly amount of time composing emails and texts (devoid of abbreviations) so as to put across just the right blend of wit, charm, hopeless foppishness and world-weary cynicism, in addition to the actual point of the message in question. Using ten sentences when six will do. The fact that my myspace profile is quite a good approximation of who I am, partly due to the "likes" list being dwarfed by the "dislikes" list.
Not overly keen on / actively dislikes / hates with a passion:
The seeming impossibility of locating, applying for and securing a position that will lead to a career offering me spiritual and material success, a long-term sense of purpose and frequent achievement, an ironing out of my more irksome shortcomings, and the instantaneous solution of any and every problem I perceive with regards to my life at the moment (including the ones I'm currently not entirely aware of.) Just how far from being a unique personal goal that really is. Endlessly agonising over precisely how many stars I should give a film I've just watched on my Facebook Flixster profile. The neverending battle between how I think I should feel and how I think I probably actually do feel that this entails. Behaving twattishly to people but not really noticing I'm doing it. Probably being more annoyed that I'm not very good at telling when I'm doing this than I am at the fact that I do it in the first place. Not being interested enough.... The fleeting aspect of fleeting moments of togetherness. Faking an interest. Being a bastard for failing to fake an interest. Commenting upon the nature and relative quality of food while eating it. When people assume too much of me... slightly flattering, but mostly depressing. Being shit at thinking of presents to buy for people. Feeling as if the fact that somebody I like/respect likes certain things is a considerable factor in my also liking said thing(s). When I'm immodest. Being impractical to an irritating degree. The fact that the last train, wherever I want to go, is almost always too flipping early in the evening. My lack of sufficient knowledge of or interest in anything to seek employment as an expert. Wistful nostalgia (including that strange beast, "Protonostalgia.") The fact that certain people can't read certain of my thoughts. Not being able to think of anything to say. Initiating and maintaining a dull conversation as an alternative. When bands I love split up. Buses. Feeling obliged to hide my geekiness by adding "I think..." to the beginning of statements. The grocer's apostrophe. Ordinariness / conformity / mediocrity. When people point out my faults, even though I'd most likely agree with what they were saying if I were completely honest. Label-peeling sexual frustration. The inevitable tall/big-haired person who shifts into their customary position between me and the lead guitarist at gigs, just as the band are about to come on and there's no room for me to move. Being in my mid-20s, but having little of what I'd call "life experience" to show for my years. Not being able to read silently for prolonged periods and take it in properly. The lack of a "raison d'être." The idea that only while I lack confidence in my own abilities will they truly bear any fruit: to believe in myself is probably to lose at least some of any inspiration and unconscious flair that may have been lurking. Items of furniture selected for being easy on the eye despite woeful impracticality. Finding it hard to get across that I actually like specific people. The sight and sound of tens of thousands of people all doing / thinking / saying the same thing. People not giving bands I like the recognition I think they deserve. Albums and songs that I absolutely adore usually soundtracking nothing more profound than me standing about in my room. Not liking certain company-specific versions of myself, but being unable to change how I behave in such company. Excessive numbers of people giving bands I like the recognition I think they deserve. My enjoyment of wonderful events being hindered by my worrying that I might not be enjoying them enough. The fact that insufficient music/film turns me on enough or fills me with enough to say quickly enough for me to make any money from my opinions. Beer. Knowing how I think I ought to / would like to feel about things, but not, in all honesty, being able to feel it. Both change and lack of change (not the loose variety.) Feeling stupid, even after having spent three quarters of my life in full-time education. The attitude that self-indulgent = bad. The attitude that possessing genuine talent and ability in the conservative sense is automatically inferior to the "endearing", naive pursuits of less able, but more charismatic individuals. The fact that there are, quite simply, too many people. Tomatoes. Becoming obsessed with fictional characters. Being ignored. Feeling compelled to actively seek out solitude, and yet quickly tiring of it. Ready-made sandwiches ruined by tomato. Worry. Hayfever. Having to respond to sentences I don't understand with "heh, yeah!". Accepting help from / depending on others. Admitting fault. Responsibility. Not being sensuous enough. Culpability. My job. The fact that I can't preserve my 20s in a jar until I'm ready to do something with them. Guilt. Not being sensual enough. Nodding and enthusiastically interjecting during conversations I only half understand, then feeling foolish immediately afterwards. Conversations with more than two other people (though there are exceptions.) The fact that any purportedly profound thought I have, however many months it might have been floating around my head, sounds embarassingly naive when I try to put it into words... even if the words aren't doing a bad job of getting it across. The fact that everything summarised on this page can't be transmitted instantaneously to strangers by a single nifty slogan on a T shirt...

My Interests

Music, Film, Cynicism, Cod Smart-Arsedness, blinding originality of thought, sarcasm, pontificating on "what it's all about", arguing, contradicting, twisting other people's words in a pedantic manner for cheap laughs etc. etc. etc.

I'd like to meet:

Someone who perfectly and indesputably complies with some vague, ill-defined, contradictory, utopian criteria; more specifically, a prudish sex addict, a sweet-as-pie sarcy bitch who's my equal intellectually (while at the same time being sliiiiightly dumber than me), both adorably innocent and (respectably) experienced, displaying refreshingly sassy confidence at the same time as rampant self-deprecation (so charming...), meticulous and highly-driven with poor/no organisation skills, constructively and engagingly argues with me on matters close to both our hearts while essentially agreeing with me, dominantly passive, expert culinary incompetence... people like this are ten a penny, seriously...

Music:

Arcade Fire, At The Drive-In, Syd Barrett, The Beatles, Bloc Party, Blur, David Bowie, Jeff Buckley, Johnny Cash, Cocteau Twins, Coldplay, The Cooper Temple Clause, Graham Coxon, The Cure, Curve, Doves, Bob Dylan, Elbow, Engineers, Feeder, Foo Fighters, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Gomez, Green Day, Hope Of The States, iLiKETRAiNS, King Crimson, Led Zeppelin, Magazine, Manic Street Preachers, Mansun, The Mars Volta, Massive Attack, Metallica, My Bloody Valentine, Nine Inch Nails, Nirvana, Pink Floyd, Primal Scream, Pure Reason Revolution, Queen, Radiohead, Rage Against The Machine, Redjetson, REM, Shink, Sigur Rós, Slowdive, The Smashing Pumpkins, The Smiths, Sonic Youth, Spiritualized, The Stone Roses, Suede, Supergrass, Talk Talk, Tenacious D, U2, The Verve, Weezer, The White Stripes, The Who, Yes, Susumu Yokota, Thom Yorke

Movies:

Airplane, Alien, Alphaville, American Beauty, Amores Perros, Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, The Big Lebowski, Blade Runner, Casino Royale (2006), Cast Away, The End of Evangelion, Eraserhead, Fight Club, Ghost World, Goldeneye, It's a Wonderful Life, Kill Bill, Kiss Me Deadly, Letter From An Unknown Woman, Lost In Translation, The Matrix, Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie, Pi, Pulp Fiction, Sin City, Speed, Sphere, Star Wars (all of 'em), Terminator 2: Judgement Day, The Thing, Three Colours Trilogy, Titan A.E., Trainspotting, The Truman Show, Twelve Monkeys, 28 Days Later, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Wayne's World 1 & 2, You Only Live Twice

Television:

Neon Genesis Evangelion, Naruto, Mock The Week, Spaced, Garth Marenghi's Darkplace, Peep Show, Monty Python's Flying Circus, Big Train, Love Soup, Life On Mars, My Name Is Earl, Police Squad!, The Mighty Boosh, 24, Q.I., Friday Night With Jonathan Ross

Books:

Not much of a reader nowadays, but: George Orwell - 1984 and Philip K. Dick - A Scanner Darkly are good. Also, Daniel Clowes - Ghost World. Yes, it's a comic, but it's also brilliant. And, a clever book (!): Crispin Sartwell - Six Names of Beauty

Heroes:

Jón Þór Birgisson, Bernard Butler, Jonny Greenwood, Kevin Shields

My Blog

October films

1: Epidemic (1987, Lars von Trier)2: Brother (2000, Takeshi Kitano)3: Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956, Robert Wise)4: Fame (1980, Alan Parker)5: Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion (1997, ...
Posted by Russell on Fri, 02 Nov 2007 08:34:00 PST

September Films

1. Gunfight at the OK Corral (John Sturges, 1956) 2. Annie (John Huston, 1982) 3. Adaptation (Spike Jonze, 2002) 4. The Silence of the Lambs (Jonathan Demme, 1991) 5. Ikiru (Akira Kurosawa, 1952) 6. S...
Posted by Russell on Mon, 01 Oct 2007 12:41:00 PST

August films

1: Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter... and Spring (Kim Ki-duk, 2003) 2: Election (Alexander Payne, 1999) 3: The Fountain (Darren Aronofsky, 2006) 4: My Boss's Daughter (David Zucker, 2003)...
Posted by Russell on Fri, 07 Sep 2007 06:37:00 PST

Sticking it out for the magic four and twenty

I didn't sleep last night. Instead, I decided to wait up to look at 120 Minutes on MTV2 (I refuse to make the effort of typing the word "two" in accordance with their new methods.) 120 Minutes being a...
Posted by Russell on Sat, 11 Aug 2007 12:48:00 PST

July films

1: Snakes on a Plane (David R. Ellis, 2006) 2: Kind Hearts and Coronets (Robert Hamer, 1949) 3: Broken Arrow (Delmer Daves, 1950) 4: Last Year in Marienbad (Alain Resnais, 1961) 5: I Am a Fugitive Fro...
Posted by Russell on Wed, 01 Aug 2007 06:59:00 PST

June Films

1: One, Two, Three (1961, Billy Wilder) 2: Laura (1944, Otto Preminger, Rouben Mamoulian) 3: Murder, My Sweet (1945, Edward Dmytryk) 4: Secretary (2001, Steven Shainberg) 5: Rashomon (1950, Akira Kuro...
Posted by Russell on Sun, 01 Jul 2007 12:27:00 PST

May films

1: Secret Beyond the Door (Fritz Lang, 1947) 2: The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (Tony Richardson, 1962) 3: The French Lieutenant's Woman (Karel Reisz, 1981) 4: Lady in the Lake (Robert Mont...
Posted by Russell on Mon, 04 Jun 2007 04:14:00 PST

April Films

1: Eraserhead (David Lynch, 1977) 2: The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (Tobe Hooper, 1974) 3: The Shining (Stanley Kubrick, 1980) 4: Letters From Iwo Jima (Clint Eastwood, 2006) 5: Badlands (Terrence Malic...
Posted by Russell on Tue, 01 May 2007 11:19:00 PST

March films

1: Le Beau Serge (1958, Claude Chabrol) 2: Gelegenheitsarbeit einer Sklavin (1973, Alexander Kluge) 3: Aguirre: The Wrath of God (1972, Werner Herzog) 4: Pan's Labyrinth (2006, Guillermo del Toro) 5: ...
Posted by Russell on Sun, 01 Apr 2007 04:57:00 PST

February Films

1: Venus (Roger Michell, 2006) 2: Klute (Alan J. Pakula, 1971) 3: Serenity (Joss Whedon, 2005) 4: Sex, Lies and Videotape (Steven Soderbergh, 1989) 5: The Double Life of Véronique (Krzysztof Kieslows...
Posted by Russell on Thu, 01 Mar 2007 04:05:00 PST