I loved my grandfather. Harry Kelvin was his name, my mother’s father. He died in 1986. He was an amazing guy. And one of the reasons he was amazing: After World War II he began an electronics company. He started selling surplus parts, kits, to schools and stuff. So he had this incredible curiosity. As a kid I saw him come over to me with radios and telephones and all sorts of things. And he’d open them up, he’d unscrew them, and reveal the inner workings — which many of us, I’m sure, take for granted, but it’s an amazing gift to give a kid. To open up this thing and show how it works and why it works and what it is. He was this amazing encourager — this patron, sort of, to make stuff. And he got me a Super 8 camera when I was 10 years old. And in 1976, that was sort of an anomaly, to be a 10-year-old kid that had access to a camera.
J. J. Abrams, TED 2008
YESSSSSSSS
1. LOST
2. Super 8
3. Star Trek (I know he didn’t create it, but…….. ……… …..)
4. This is dicey but his TED talk from 2008 was when I first fell in love with him
okay this is where this answer gets shady because even though I have been planning on it, I have not watched all of Fringe because I want to save it away for a rainy day (along with The Wire and The Hour) and lesbihonest Felicity and Alias aren’t masterpieces. I actually think he did a great job with Mission Impossible III, and the part of Cloverfield where that lady just kinda blows up into bloody goo was really cool. I think that after Cloverfield, he started honing in on his actual style (what we see in Super 8 and Star Trek). He’s one of those people who I think continues to improve and, like Steven Spielberg and in some instances moreso than Spielberg, really knows the balance story with excitement. I love his unabashed love of visually exciting and magical things for the sake of them being awesome, but at the same time realizing that the most important part of a story is the characters. A quote from his talk at TED sorta summarizes this: “And then, finally, there’s this idea — stretching the sort of paradigm a little bit — but the idea of the mystery box. Meaning, what you think you’re getting, then what you’re really getting.And it’s true in so many movies and stories.And when you look at E.T., for example — E.T. is this, you know, unbelievable movie about what? It’s about an alien who meets a kid, right? Well, it’s not. E.T. is about divorce. E.T. is about a heartbroken, divorce-crippled family, and ultimately, this kid who can’t find his way. Die Hard, right? Crazy, great, fun, action-adventure movie in a building. It’s about a guy who’s on the verge of divorce. He’s showing up to L.A., tail between his legs. There are great scenes — maybe not the most amazing dramatic scenes in the history of time, but pretty great scenes. There’s a half an hour of investment in character before you get to the stuff that you’re, you know, expecting.”
Wow sorry this turned into an essay, but I just have a lot of feelings about J. J. Abrams! It seems so basic but honestly, you look at a lot of blockbuster movies these days and their issue is that they don’t realize the above statement!! Also: lens flare.
hi, i'm frankie, 18.
obsessions of the week:
arya stark, tom wlaschiha, born and raised
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