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rdoc -> pdf

Mariano Kamp

9/28/2006 5:48:00 PM

Hi,

I found the below quoted message when searching for a pdf output
formatter for rdoc.

Any idea if there has been progress made?

Cheers,
Mariano


From: Gregory Brown
Date: Thurs, Dec 15 2005 11:35 pm

On 12/15/05, Austin Ziegler <halosta...@gmail.com> wrote:

> The Pickaxe2 has a PDF version available for purchase from the
> Pragmatic Bookshelf. On the other hand, if someone wants to make a
> RDoc formatter using PDF::Writer, I'll try to provide what assistance
> I can.

Ugh. This sounds like something that may need to go into Ruport. I
hate when that happens!

Would people be interesting in being able to use rdoc formatting to
generate PDFs using Ruby Reports? If so... i'll put it on the dogpile
of features to be added this winter when I'm working full time on
Ruport for a couple weeks.
11 Answers

Gregory Brown

9/28/2006 8:16:00 PM

0

I reformatted your post a tiny bit, to make it eaier to respond to...
hope you don't mind...

On 9/28/06, Mariano Kamp <mariano.kamp@acm.org> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I found the below quoted message when searching for a pdf output
> formatter for rdoc.


> On 12/15/05, Austin Ziegler <halosta...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > The Pickaxe2 has a PDF version available for purchase from the
> > Pragmatic Bookshelf. On the other hand, if someone wants to make a
> > RDoc formatter using PDF::Writer, I'll try to provide what assistance
> > I can.
>
> Ugh. This sounds like something that may need to go into Ruport. I
> hate when that happens!
>
> Would people be interesting in being able to use rdoc formatting to
> generate PDFs using Ruby Reports? If so... i'll put it on the dogpile
> of features to be added this winter when I'm working full time on
> Ruport for a couple weeks.

Wow, this is an old message! We've completely rewritten Ruport since then. :)

> Any idea if there has been progress made?

We didn't get a roaring response of Yes! to this, so it went back the
burner and actually slowly fell off the radar. At this point, we're
all pretty much incredibly busy with other things in Ruport, so I
can't promise that we'll get to this feature in the forseeable future.

However, what we can offer is support for anyone interested in doing
this. I've used htmldoc to convert html to pdf, and it'd be cool if
we can get something more robust into Ruport.

It might be better to attack it from the HTML to PDF direction rather
than the rdoc to PDF direction, since it would be more general. (Then
one could use textile,markdown,rdoc, whatever, convert to html and
ruport could then render to PDF)

If anyone wants to take the initiative on something like that, go
ahead and catch up with us on the Ruport mailing
list(http://lists.stonecode.org/listinfo.cgi/ruport-sto...) or
in #ruport on Freenode. All of our developers are currently tied
down, but we can take the time to help get the information out there
that would be needed for folks who wanted to build something like
this.

It's a neat idea, sorry we never got around to it.

-Greg

Mariano Kamp

10/3/2006 4:07:00 PM

0

Hi Gregory,

On Sep 28, 2006, at 10:15 PM, Gregory Brown wrote:

> I reformatted your post a tiny bit, to make it eaier to respond to...
> hope you don't mind...
>
Nope, not at all ;-)

> On 9/28/06, Mariano Kamp <mariano.kamp@acm.org> wrote:
>> Hi,
>>
>> I found the below quoted message when searching for a pdf output
>> formatter for rdoc.
>
>
>> On 12/15/05, Austin Ziegler <halosta...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> > The Pickaxe2 has a PDF version available for purchase from the
>> > Pragmatic Bookshelf. On the other hand, if someone wants to make a
>> > RDoc formatter using PDF::Writer, I'll try to provide what
>> assistance
>> > I can.
>>
>> Ugh. This sounds like something that may need to go into Ruport. I
>> hate when that happens!
>>
>> Would people be interesting in being able to use rdoc formatting to
>> generate PDFs using Ruby Reports? If so... i'll put it on the
>> dogpile
>> of features to be added this winter when I'm working full time on
>> Ruport for a couple weeks.
>
> Wow, this is an old message! We've completely rewritten Ruport
> since then. :)
>
>> Any idea if there has been progress made?
>
> We didn't get a roaring response of Yes!
Well, I would like to have the docs available as pdf for offline use
and because I never really quite got the hang of searching the html
docs efficiently.

> [..]
> However, what we can offer is support for anyone interested in doing
> this. I've used htmldoc to convert html to pdf, and it'd be cool if
> we can get something more robust into Ruport.
But rdoc already provides simple markup as a basis, doesn't it? Using
html would mean to reverse engineer the semantics from a format that
is already rendered for presentation, wouldn't it?

> It might be better to attack it from the HTML to PDF direction rather
> than the rdoc to PDF direction, since it would be more general. (Then
> one could use textile,markdown,rdoc, whatever, convert to html and
> ruport could then render to PDF)
Not quite sure that I get that. Where exactly comes textile or
markdown into the picture here?

> If anyone wants to take the initiative on something like that, go
> ahead and catch up with us on the Ruport mailing
> list(http://lists.stonecode.org/listinfo.cgi/ruport-sto...) or
> in #ruport on Freenode. All of our developers are currently tied
> down, but we can take the time to help get the information out there
> that would be needed for folks who wanted to build something like
> this.
I think I expected this to be something like a new output format for
rdoc, like xml etc. is today. Your thinking goes along the lines to
build something that works outside of rdoc in ruport, or am I missing
the point here?

Cheers,
Mariano

Gregory Brown

10/4/2006 12:28:00 AM

0

I've copied this discussion to the Ruport mailing list, please
continue the conversation there. We don't generally use RubyTalk for
discussion about Ruport, both for kindness reasons and because we like
to keep an archive of the things we discuss for reference.

On 10/3/06, Mariano Kamp <mariano.kamp@acm.org> wrote:

> > We didn't get a roaring response of Yes!
> Well, I would like to have the docs available as pdf for offline use
> and because I never really quite got the hang of searching the html
> docs efficiently.
>
> > [..]
> > However, what we can offer is support for anyone interested in doing
> > this. I've used htmldoc to convert html to pdf, and it'd be cool if
> > we can get something more robust into Ruport.
> But rdoc already provides simple markup as a basis, doesn't it? Using
> html would mean to reverse engineer the semantics from a format that
> is already rendered for presentation, wouldn't it?

Yeah, If RDoc had an output format that was easily traversible, or if
there was a parser that would create this. (Pure ruby object, YAML, or
even XML), then it'd be much easier. Since AFAIK it does not, it's no
different to parse text with RDoc in it than it is text with HTML,
except that RDoc *might* be more simple to render. (Who knows? There
is a lot of automatic magic in RDoc that'd be tough to replicate
without giving it some thought)

> > It might be better to attack it from the HTML to PDF direction rather
> > than the rdoc to PDF direction, since it would be more general. (Then
> > one could use textile,markdown,rdoc, whatever, convert to html and
> > ruport could then render to PDF)
> Not quite sure that I get that. Where exactly comes textile or
> markdown into the picture here?

They each also output html. If we had an html-to-anything converter
in Ruport, we could then not worry about supporting the individual
nuances of textile,markdown,rdoc,etc

> > If anyone wants to take the initiative on something like that, go
> > ahead and catch up with us on the Ruport mailing
> > list(http://lists.stonecode.org/listinfo.cgi/ruport-sto...) or
> > in #ruport on Freenode. All of our developers are currently tied
> > down, but we can take the time to help get the information out there
> > that would be needed for folks who wanted to build something like
> > this.
> I think I expected this to be something like a new output format for
> rdoc, like xml etc. is today. Your thinking goes along the lines to
> build something that works outside of rdoc in ruport, or am I missing
> the point here?

Yep, if this existed, i'd happily support RDoc -> whatever in Ruport.
YAML or XML that I could easily traverse would make it easier to
support arbitrary output formats.

M forever

8/19/2011 10:03:00 PM

0

On Aug 19, 5:53 pm, Alan Cooper <amcoo...@NOSPAMoptonline.net> wrote:
> Oscar <oscaredwardwilliam...@gmail.com> wrote innews:e87bf4d6-832b-4676-bd2b-918ec5d50773@b9g2000prd.googlegroups.c
> om:
>
> > On Aug 19, 10:19 am, JohnGavin wrote:
>
> >> The film has great nature film footage - I don't think it will
> >> be loved by atheists, that's for sure. Do I recommend it? - I
> >> don't know.
> >> The only recent film that is harder to watch is "Buried", which
> >> was sheer torture to watch (although it was very well done.)
>
> > Of Gods and Men was a more incisive, more restrained, and more
> > elegant recent film about 'man and spirit' than Malick's
> > overwhelmingly turgid piece.  Glad I saw it but would not want
> > to sit through it again. Btw, I read that Malick had a brother
> > who died in childhood, so, if true, that is likely where much of
> > the inspiration came from.
>
> Yes, "Of Gods and Men" or "Vision" or "Into Great Silence" or "Spring, Summer,
> Fall, Winter...and Spring" or "Edge of Heaven" or any film directed by the
> Dardennes or....  Malick's latest effort to find a cure for insomnia is a classic
> example of what Dwight Macdonald dubbed "midcult."  So also the Coen Brothers' "A
> Serious Man."  I got into a knock-down-drag-out over that one (figuratively
> speaking) with a bunch of Bible scholars who actually *liked* it, but what do they
> know about cinema? :-)

Midcult - I wasn't familiar with that term so I looked it up: "A form
of intellectual and artistic culture that has qualities of high
culture and mass culture without being either". Seems to me to hit the
nail on the head about Malick's movies. There is certainly a great
mastership at work there, but they are also really quite mainstream
and very obvious in their display of that mastership.

OTOH, one could ask why is there anything wrong with crossing the -
arguably artificial - "boundaries" between "high culture" and "mass
culture"?

JohnGavin

8/19/2011 10:11:00 PM

0

On Aug 19, 6:02 pm, M forever <ms1...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Aug 19, 5:53 pm, Alan Cooper <amcoo...@NOSPAMoptonline.net> wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
> > Oscar <oscaredwardwilliam...@gmail.com> wrote innews:e87bf4d6-832b-4676-bd2b-918ec5d50773@b9g2000prd.googlegroups.c
> > om:
>
> > > On Aug 19, 10:19 am, JohnGavin wrote:
>
> > >> The film has great nature film footage - I don't think it will
> > >> be loved by atheists, that's for sure. Do I recommend it? - I
> > >> don't know.
> > >> The only recent film that is harder to watch is "Buried", which
> > >> was sheer torture to watch (although it was very well done.)
>
> > > Of Gods and Men was a more incisive, more restrained, and more
> > > elegant recent film about 'man and spirit' than Malick's
> > > overwhelmingly turgid piece.  Glad I saw it but would not want
> > > to sit through it again. Btw, I read that Malick had a brother
> > > who died in childhood, so, if true, that is likely where much of
> > > the inspiration came from.
>
> > Yes, "Of Gods and Men" or "Vision" or "Into Great Silence" or "Spring, Summer,
> > Fall, Winter...and Spring" or "Edge of Heaven" or any film directed by the
> > Dardennes or....  Malick's latest effort to find a cure for insomnia is a classic
> > example of what Dwight Macdonald dubbed "midcult."  So also the Coen Brothers' "A
> > Serious Man."  I got into a knock-down-drag-out over that one (figuratively
> > speaking) with a bunch of Bible scholars who actually *liked* it, but what do they
> > know about cinema? :-)
>
> Midcult - I wasn't familiar with that term so I looked it up: "A form
> of intellectual and artistic culture that has qualities of high
> culture and mass culture without being either". Seems to me to hit the
> nail on the head about Malick's movies. There is certainly a great
> mastership at work there, but they are also really quite mainstream
> and very obvious in their display of that mastership.
>
> OTOH, one could ask why is there anything wrong with crossing the -
> arguably artificial - "boundaries" between "high culture" and "mass
> culture"?

Tree of Life has been described by critics as cinematic impressionism.
There is a stream-of-consciousness quality going on as well.

The question regarding Tree of Life is: Is it art, or is it artsy?

"artsy" is defined as Making a strong, affected, or pretentious
display of being artistic or interested in the arts: "

Oscar Williamson

8/19/2011 10:23:00 PM

0

On Aug 19, 3:10 pm, JohnGavin wrote:
>
> > OTOH, one could ask why is there anything wrong with crossing the -
> > arguably artificial - "boundaries" between "high culture" and "mass
> > culture"?
>
> Tree of Life has been described by critics as cinematic impressionism.
> There is a stream-of-consciousness quality going on as well.
>
> The question regarding Tree of Life is:  Is it art, or is it artsy?

Without doubt, the latter. Loved the soundtrack, though!

M forever

8/19/2011 10:29:00 PM

0

On Aug 19, 6:10 pm, JohnGavin <dagd...@comcast.net> wrote:
> On Aug 19, 6:02 pm, M forever <ms1...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> > On Aug 19, 5:53 pm, Alan Cooper <amcoo...@NOSPAMoptonline.net> wrote:
>
> > > Oscar <oscaredwardwilliam...@gmail.com> wrote innews:e87bf4d6-832b-4676-bd2b-918ec5d50773@b9g2000prd.googlegroups.c
> > > om:
>
> > > > On Aug 19, 10:19 am, JohnGavin wrote:
>
> > > >> The film has great nature film footage - I don't think it will
> > > >> be loved by atheists, that's for sure. Do I recommend it? - I
> > > >> don't know.
> > > >> The only recent film that is harder to watch is "Buried", which
> > > >> was sheer torture to watch (although it was very well done.)
>
> > > > Of Gods and Men was a more incisive, more restrained, and more
> > > > elegant recent film about 'man and spirit' than Malick's
> > > > overwhelmingly turgid piece.  Glad I saw it but would not want
> > > > to sit through it again. Btw, I read that Malick had a brother
> > > > who died in childhood, so, if true, that is likely where much of
> > > > the inspiration came from.
>
> > > Yes, "Of Gods and Men" or "Vision" or "Into Great Silence" or "Spring, Summer,
> > > Fall, Winter...and Spring" or "Edge of Heaven" or any film directed by the
> > > Dardennes or....  Malick's latest effort to find a cure for insomnia is a classic
> > > example of what Dwight Macdonald dubbed "midcult."  So also the Coen Brothers' "A
> > > Serious Man."  I got into a knock-down-drag-out over that one (figuratively
> > > speaking) with a bunch of Bible scholars who actually *liked* it, but what do they
> > > know about cinema? :-)
>
> > Midcult - I wasn't familiar with that term so I looked it up: "A form
> > of intellectual and artistic culture that has qualities of high
> > culture and mass culture without being either". Seems to me to hit the
> > nail on the head about Malick's movies. There is certainly a great
> > mastership at work there, but they are also really quite mainstream
> > and very obvious in their display of that mastership.
>
> > OTOH, one could ask why is there anything wrong with crossing the -
> > arguably artificial - "boundaries" between "high culture" and "mass
> > culture"?
>
> Tree of Life has been described by critics as cinematic impressionism.
> There is a stream-of-consciousness quality going on as well.
>
> The question regarding Tree of Life is:  Is it art, or is it artsy?
>
> "artsy" is defined as  Making a strong, affected, or pretentious
> display of being artistic or interested in the arts: "

So what is your answer? I obviously can't give one since I haven't
seen the movie yet. I was only talking about his previous ones.
Incidentally, I went to the library and checked out Days of Heaven,
The Thin Red Line, and The New World. I am kind of in the mood for
that. I have to admit I have a certain weakness for those 70s epics
like Days of Heaven.
The funny thing though is that I can't remember if I have actually
seen The New World or not.I remember a little bit about it, but that
is so little it may also be that I just saw the trailer or a clip.
Whether that means that I am getting totally senile or that the movie
is forgettable I can't say. Maybe both...

JohnGavin

8/19/2011 10:46:00 PM

0

On Aug 19, 6:29 pm, M forever <ms1...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Aug 19, 6:10 pm, JohnGavin <dagd...@comcast.net> wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
> > On Aug 19, 6:02 pm, M forever <ms1...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > > On Aug 19, 5:53 pm, Alan Cooper <amcoo...@NOSPAMoptonline.net> wrote:
>
> > > > Oscar <oscaredwardwilliam...@gmail.com> wrote innews:e87bf4d6-832b-4676-bd2b-918ec5d50773@b9g2000prd.googlegroups.c
> > > > om:
>
> > > > > On Aug 19, 10:19 am, JohnGavin wrote:
>
> > > > >> The film has great nature film footage - I don't think it will
> > > > >> be loved by atheists, that's for sure. Do I recommend it? - I
> > > > >> don't know.
> > > > >> The only recent film that is harder to watch is "Buried", which
> > > > >> was sheer torture to watch (although it was very well done.)
>
> > > > > Of Gods and Men was a more incisive, more restrained, and more
> > > > > elegant recent film about 'man and spirit' than Malick's
> > > > > overwhelmingly turgid piece.  Glad I saw it but would not want
> > > > > to sit through it again. Btw, I read that Malick had a brother
> > > > > who died in childhood, so, if true, that is likely where much of
> > > > > the inspiration came from.
>
> > > > Yes, "Of Gods and Men" or "Vision" or "Into Great Silence" or "Spring, Summer,
> > > > Fall, Winter...and Spring" or "Edge of Heaven" or any film directed by the
> > > > Dardennes or....  Malick's latest effort to find a cure for insomnia is a classic
> > > > example of what Dwight Macdonald dubbed "midcult."  So also the Coen Brothers' "A
> > > > Serious Man."  I got into a knock-down-drag-out over that one (figuratively
> > > > speaking) with a bunch of Bible scholars who actually *liked* it, but what do they
> > > > know about cinema? :-)
>
> > > Midcult - I wasn't familiar with that term so I looked it up: "A form
> > > of intellectual and artistic culture that has qualities of high
> > > culture and mass culture without being either". Seems to me to hit the
> > > nail on the head about Malick's movies. There is certainly a great
> > > mastership at work there, but they are also really quite mainstream
> > > and very obvious in their display of that mastership.
>
> > > OTOH, one could ask why is there anything wrong with crossing the -
> > > arguably artificial - "boundaries" between "high culture" and "mass
> > > culture"?
>
> > Tree of Life has been described by critics as cinematic impressionism.
> > There is a stream-of-consciousness quality going on as well.
>
> > The question regarding Tree of Life is:  Is it art, or is it artsy?
>
> > "artsy" is defined as  Making a strong, affected, or pretentious
> > display of being artistic or interested in the arts: "
>
> So what is your answer?

I'm not entirely sure.
The movie may deserve more time to sink in - or more viewings to
really decide fairly.
Problem is, I don't think I could sit through it again.

It is comparable to deciding how one feels about Sorabji's Opus
Claviercembalisticum.
Is there more to it than one can divine in one hearing - if so, who
would be up for another hearing anytime soon?

M forever

8/19/2011 10:52:00 PM

0

On Aug 19, 6:45 pm, JohnGavin <dagd...@comcast.net> wrote:
> On Aug 19, 6:29 pm, M forever <ms1...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> > On Aug 19, 6:10 pm, JohnGavin <dagd...@comcast.net> wrote:
>
> > > On Aug 19, 6:02 pm, M forever <ms1...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > > > On Aug 19, 5:53 pm, Alan Cooper <amcoo...@NOSPAMoptonline.net> wrote:
>
> > > > > Oscar <oscaredwardwilliam...@gmail.com> wrote innews:e87bf4d6-832b-4676-bd2b-918ec5d50773@b9g2000prd.googlegroups.c
> > > > > om:
>
> > > > > > On Aug 19, 10:19 am, JohnGavin wrote:
>
> > > > > >> The film has great nature film footage - I don't think it will
> > > > > >> be loved by atheists, that's for sure. Do I recommend it? - I
> > > > > >> don't know.
> > > > > >> The only recent film that is harder to watch is "Buried", which
> > > > > >> was sheer torture to watch (although it was very well done.)
>
> > > > > > Of Gods and Men was a more incisive, more restrained, and more
> > > > > > elegant recent film about 'man and spirit' than Malick's
> > > > > > overwhelmingly turgid piece.  Glad I saw it but would not want
> > > > > > to sit through it again. Btw, I read that Malick had a brother
> > > > > > who died in childhood, so, if true, that is likely where much of
> > > > > > the inspiration came from.
>
> > > > > Yes, "Of Gods and Men" or "Vision" or "Into Great Silence" or "Spring, Summer,
> > > > > Fall, Winter...and Spring" or "Edge of Heaven" or any film directed by the
> > > > > Dardennes or....  Malick's latest effort to find a cure for insomnia is a classic
> > > > > example of what Dwight Macdonald dubbed "midcult."  So also the Coen Brothers' "A
> > > > > Serious Man."  I got into a knock-down-drag-out over that one (figuratively
> > > > > speaking) with a bunch of Bible scholars who actually *liked* it, but what do they
> > > > > know about cinema? :-)
>
> > > > Midcult - I wasn't familiar with that term so I looked it up: "A form
> > > > of intellectual and artistic culture that has qualities of high
> > > > culture and mass culture without being either". Seems to me to hit the
> > > > nail on the head about Malick's movies. There is certainly a great
> > > > mastership at work there, but they are also really quite mainstream
> > > > and very obvious in their display of that mastership.
>
> > > > OTOH, one could ask why is there anything wrong with crossing the -
> > > > arguably artificial - "boundaries" between "high culture" and "mass
> > > > culture"?
>
> > > Tree of Life has been described by critics as cinematic impressionism.
> > > There is a stream-of-consciousness quality going on as well.
>
> > > The question regarding Tree of Life is:  Is it art, or is it artsy?
>
> > > "artsy" is defined as  Making a strong, affected, or pretentious
> > > display of being artistic or interested in the arts: "
>
> > So what is your answer?
>
> I'm not entirely sure.
> The movie may deserve more time to sink in - or more viewings to
> really decide fairly.
> Problem is, I don't think I could sit through it again.

Were you bored while you watched it?

JohnGavin

8/20/2011 12:31:00 AM

0

On Aug 19, 6:51 pm, M forever <ms1...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Aug 19, 6:45 pm, JohnGavin <dagd...@comcast.net> wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
> > On Aug 19, 6:29 pm, M forever <ms1...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > > On Aug 19, 6:10 pm, JohnGavin <dagd...@comcast.net> wrote:
>
> > > > On Aug 19, 6:02 pm, M forever <ms1...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > > > > On Aug 19, 5:53 pm, Alan Cooper <amcoo...@NOSPAMoptonline.net> wrote:
>
> > > > > > Oscar <oscaredwardwilliam...@gmail.com> wrote innews:e87bf4d6-832b-4676-bd2b-918ec5d50773@b9g2000prd.googlegroups.c
> > > > > > om:
>
> > > > > > > On Aug 19, 10:19 am, JohnGavin wrote:
>
> > > > > > >> The film has great nature film footage - I don't think it will
> > > > > > >> be loved by atheists, that's for sure. Do I recommend it? - I
> > > > > > >> don't know.
> > > > > > >> The only recent film that is harder to watch is "Buried", which
> > > > > > >> was sheer torture to watch (although it was very well done.)
>
> > > > > > > Of Gods and Men was a more incisive, more restrained, and more
> > > > > > > elegant recent film about 'man and spirit' than Malick's
> > > > > > > overwhelmingly turgid piece.  Glad I saw it but would not want
> > > > > > > to sit through it again. Btw, I read that Malick had a brother
> > > > > > > who died in childhood, so, if true, that is likely where much of
> > > > > > > the inspiration came from.
>
> > > > > > Yes, "Of Gods and Men" or "Vision" or "Into Great Silence" or "Spring, Summer,
> > > > > > Fall, Winter...and Spring" or "Edge of Heaven" or any film directed by the
> > > > > > Dardennes or....  Malick's latest effort to find a cure for insomnia is a classic
> > > > > > example of what Dwight Macdonald dubbed "midcult."  So also the Coen Brothers' "A
> > > > > > Serious Man."  I got into a knock-down-drag-out over that one (figuratively
> > > > > > speaking) with a bunch of Bible scholars who actually *liked* it, but what do they
> > > > > > know about cinema? :-)
>
> > > > > Midcult - I wasn't familiar with that term so I looked it up: "A form
> > > > > of intellectual and artistic culture that has qualities of high
> > > > > culture and mass culture without being either". Seems to me to hit the
> > > > > nail on the head about Malick's movies. There is certainly a great
> > > > > mastership at work there, but they are also really quite mainstream
> > > > > and very obvious in their display of that mastership.
>
> > > > > OTOH, one could ask why is there anything wrong with crossing the -
> > > > > arguably artificial - "boundaries" between "high culture" and "mass
> > > > > culture"?
>
> > > > Tree of Life has been described by critics as cinematic impressionism.
> > > > There is a stream-of-consciousness quality going on as well.
>
> > > > The question regarding Tree of Life is:  Is it art, or is it artsy?
>
> > > > "artsy" is defined as  Making a strong, affected, or pretentious
> > > > display of being artistic or interested in the arts: "
>
> > > So what is your answer?
>
> > I'm not entirely sure.
> > The movie may deserve more time to sink in - or more viewings to
> > really decide fairly.
> > Problem is, I don't think I could sit through it again.
>
> Were you bored while you watched it?

No, I wasn't bored. It was more like visiting a family who had just
received a telegram informing them that their young child has died,
and you are forced to be in the middle of their sustained grief, up
close and personal for a long time. It's a sort of harrowing,
exhausting marathon. Is there something to be gained from such an
experience? Maybe.

It had a similar effect on me as the film "Buried" - about an American
truck driver in Iraq driving at the wrong place at the wrong time. He
is kidnapped and buried alive - the entire film takes place inside the
coffin. It's a grueling 2 hours. Is the film valid? Yes,
definitely, because this has actually happened - and it brings a
reality into our awareness that we would rather not contemplate.
Certainly nobody comes out of the theater after viewing either film
with a smile on their face.