Words for the wise from the mouth of a fool.
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Thursday, May 23, 2002
In the tradition of Royal Journal's Found Art, something I found while out hiking last weekend:
Just that single card, lying out in the woods mouldering. Why? Why was someone just carrying around Daphne? Do they still have the rest of the deck? What do they do now that the Queen of Spades is missing?
It is a mystery.
Putting together a CD for my parents, and I can't tell you how hard it is to resist, in the middle of music I know they'll like, tossing in a hardcore rap song...but sometimes the amusement has to come from the concept, not the execution, I suppose.
Watched Ravenous last night, and while I enjoyed the dark humor and thought it was a well-made movie, I had the same problem really getting into it enjoying it that I have with most horror movies: it was a movie about evil people surrounded by stupid people. I just don't enjoy spending my leisure time soaking in that kind of thing. Give me suspense instead of horror, where those who aren't evil (beyond the main character, please) at least have a chance against the evil and aren't just fodder. In some senses, the final fifteen minutes of Ravenous (and especially the third act surprise) really redeem it in that sense, though I'd much rather that good be able to beat evil on its own terms rather than being required to compromise to do so (though in this case it was the plot that required the compromise) -- pragmatism is easy; heroism is not.
Hopefully all of that makes sense to those who have seen the movie without ruining it for those who haven't. It's at least worth checking out.
But beyond checking out, something you should turn off your computer and go see right now, is Amelie. I've been hearing good things for months, and was pleasantly shocked to find that the movie was even better than my high expectations, leaping at a bare minimum into my top 20 favorite movies. Subtlty is the key to its quality: subtle joys (the pancake records, the magical groceries), subtle pains (the look on the face of the goldfish, the moment when Amelie realizes that fantasies only become more painful as they approach reality), subtle relationships, subtle dialogue, subtle effects (CGI like a feather dancing on the breeze of a great story rather than a sledgehammer driving unreality into your brain like a railroad spike)... I can't say enough good things about it.
Go. Go now and see it.
(I suspect this is the first and last time you'll ever see those two movies reviewed concurrently...)
Wednesday, May 22, 2002
Tuesday, May 21, 2002
I don't normally make generalizations, but:
Observed: 36 of 40 red two-door cars were driven by women.
Supplemental 1: Four-door cars are not as likely to be driven by women. (12 of 20)
Supplemental 2: The further a car gets from fire-engine red, the less likely it is to be driven by a woman.
Supplemental 3: Convertibles are a toss-up.
Assignment: Collect your own data. Report in. Discuss.
The hammer doesn't drop--it just passes to the hands of the U.S. Copyright Office. I know "responsible government" is almost an oxymoron, but can I hope they don't do anything stupid here?
Monday, May 20, 2002
It looks like some folks are finally taking up Roger Ebert's suggestion to create their own DVD commentary tracks. Pretty cool. I hope to see a lot of pro- and anti-movie tracks out there (F'rinstance, if I can mention her twice in one day, I'd love to see a commentary track by Karla on any Lucas or Spielberg movie.)
Goodbye to Stephen Jay Gould, and his amazing ability to bring science to the masses. Nothing makes you smarter than reading the words of smart people.
Thanks to Bruce Sterling for the link to an interesting story about Vegas vice kings' suspicions that the local phone company has been compromised by hackers.
The "Kit Fisto" and "Meat dreadlocks" memes appear to have completely taken over the Conversatron. Nice work, Karla.
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