brillwill

Squash the Squash – Boring Movie Brian (acoustic) from Jimmy Tran on Vimeo.

Yesterday I drove to College Station to meet up with my old bandmates. We had a little impromptu session, recorded here…

This was taken by my good friend Aida on Christmas Day. Note that I was actually very happy, and that my intense magnum look is just a pose.

Just picked up an old 1970s Nikon 135 f2.8 from a local camera shop for 70 bucks! The sharpness on this thing is amazing. Check out his right eye through the glasses.

Up in the Air is easily one of my favorite movies this year. I don’t know what I was expecting going into it, except for the fact that the trailer really piqued my interest for being so minimal and brilliant. Well, I got all I paid for and much more. This is ultimately a movie about your choice of a career, and how it defines your life.

George Clooney plays a “downsizer”, a professional that companies hire to help lay off their employees when they don’t have the guts to do it themselves. The movie brings you along to many different US cities, although you wouldn’t be able to tell a cubicle from Dallas apart from Chicago. At first, you’re drawn to sympathize for all the hardworking employees losing their job, questioning how “they will provide for their family, their kids”. You naturally antagonize Clooney’s character for being so smug, so calculated, and so cold.

However, as the movie wears on, you realize that Clooney is a potted plant, so to speak. No roots. While the people he fires will ultimately end back up on their feet, with the support of their family, you see that Clooney doesn’t have that, and you start wavering between who is in the more tragic situation. There is a love interest, and I have to say that the way it played out is pitch perfect. It doesn’t hurt that Vera Farmiga is ultra hot. Additionally, the chemistry between the two are genuine and electric.

This is director Jason Reitman’s third outing, and judging by his track record (Thank you for Smoking, Juno) , I think it’s safe to say that this is a director that I will be following for a very long time. A wonderful movie.

I had the honor of taking some photographs at my dear friends Lindsay and Tyler’s wedding. Check em out here

More girls need to wear chunky sneakers