Reading: “Duma Key” by Stephen King
WIP: Benicio del Toro as Che Guevara (pencils on water colour paper)
Secondary title: Boredom and Loathing in the Elevator
Who knew that waiting for the elevator could be such a mind-numbing experience?? I do. It takes (literally) hours (longest so far was an hour and a half) just so we can get in the infernal lift and leave the building. I wonder if the management of Burgundy Tower is planning to do something about this. Yesterday, a spectacular battle of wills between a certain building tenant (which is not me, I assure you) and the Elevator guy occured. Said tenant claimed that E-guy was not doing his job (which extremely offended tha latter, as he must be feeling particularly high strung that day, I’m not sure).
Anyway, I’m feeling exceptionally tired today (lack of sleep I guess). I finally got to fix my phone (I’m still wondering what really happened, my unit does not usually ask for a security code, which turned out to be so simple I want to bludgeon myself!) Thank goodness for the Master Code Generator.
Another thing. A good living/working environment for me is anywhere I can draw comfortably. Today, I started a prelimenary study/sketch of Benicio Del Toro as Che Guevara, in the upcoming movie Che: A Revolutionary Life, below is my take on the film trailer (copied from my other blog):
“We execute. And will continue to execute…Homeland or Death!” — Ernesto Guevara
Well, instead of endlessly swooning about the release of the infernal “Twilight”, I think I’d spend my time watching out for more worthy films.
Just like this biopic about Argentinian doctor-turned-revolutionary Ernesto “Che” Guevara de la Serna; directed by Steve Soderbergh. Click here to see the trailer (and I guarantee it’s fantastic)
At 260 minutes, its a bit long (and still too short to chronicle the life of this rather contradictory figure. Healer and Executioner. Kind and Brutal. Practical and Naive. And so on). I’ve seen several pictures of him with his wife and children (I must really get that memoir by Aleida Guevara March, his eldest daughter), and numerous testimonies from other people who were close to him, not to mention read some of his writings and I could tell he has an enormous capacity to be idealistic, egalitarian and quite affectionate; But still many percieve him as ruthless killer (he’s known in some circles as “The Butcher of La Cubana”).
And it’s rather ironic that he was fully embraced by the culture he so violently despised.
But the people at Cannes film festival were (most of them anyway) raving about Benicio del Toro’s performance (he got a best actor award too).
As one critic put it: “A lengthy and complex portrait of Che as a revolutionary, a leader of a guerilla band, a doctor, a believer in obedience and loyalty, and a man willing to suffer for his beliefs.”
“Soderbergh shows us many different sides of the revolutionary as a
leader of men; as a doctor who heals not only his comrades but the poor
in villages; as a disciplinarian who believes in the rigors of
obedience and loyalty to the cause; as a lifelong learner who manages
to read and write while existing in the jungle; and as a soldier whose
passion for justice is fueled by confidence in armed resistance. The
chilling finale reveals that violence only begets more violence in a
never-ending cycle.”
I don’t think they’ll screen it here though. I’ll have to wait for the “pirated editions” then.
To continue, the drawing was pretty up to my usual standards. It’s in preparation for a detailed portrait of the real Che. I’m enjoying the whole sketching process until I ran out of 2B “points” for my mechanical pencil.
I really must get Jon Lee Anderson’s Che: A Revolutionary Life. A rather balanced biography they say, one which neither glorifies nor criticizes it’s main subject; but rather paints both the “good” and “bad” aspects of this complicated and sometimes contradictory man.
Finally, our training exams are over. I must say this is the worst training experience so far, it’s so dull, I fell asleep several times; and everyone except for a select few seems to have an attitude problem. And did I mention the elevator? What else is there??
I must get some sleep now. Really.
