Most boring post EVER

[sanpaku_backup]

So I just made friends-only (instead of private) my long rant that I was working on since this morning... it's been a long time since I updated.

I could have sworn that I had written something about what I'm trying to "accomplish" now... it's kind of funny, I realize that the ebbing of work has meant that it is like I am in a time capsule dated October 2001. I am listening to Radiohead, working fitfully on trying to turn my dissertation into a book*, doing a lot of other reading, trying once again to learn bridge, and feeling vaguely dissatisfied yet enjoying the length of the day well enough.

One thing I have been doing is watching a lot of movies. We got a whole bunch of 3 movies for 99 cents coupons from Hollywood Video when we moved in and for some reason they just sent us more. So I've been grabbing everything I can off the shelf and watching almost a movie every other night for the past month. In roughly the order that I saw them:

Minority Report
Insomnia
Amelie
Charade
Night of the Hunter
Dog Day Afternoon
The Philadelphia Story
Suspicion
QC
The Business of Strangers
Kissing Jessica Stein
Touch of Evil(seen before)
Key Largo
Easy Rider
The Cat's Meow

That's all I can remember... I'll have to edit this to include the others when I think of them. I suppose I'll keep getting all these movies as long as I have the coupons. It's amazing how getting three movies at once ends the whole "why did you get that?" discussion after returning from the video store.

Reading: in the middle of The Great Shark Hunt by Hunter S. Thompson. At some point will get to Starkey's The Devil in Massachusetts.

I really want to learn bridge this time around. I got out of the habit but I think I could eventually figure it out. I'm telling ya, this whole angst about friends mostly stems from not having people to help me learn bridge.

* This is not the "Plan" that I alluded to in an earlier post. The "Plan" is moving forward, slowly, awaiting inspiration. Might still come to pass. I don't know.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Hey, Hawaii girl here. How was 'Kissing Jessica Stein;? Comedic genius, or just painfully predictable aww-aren't-lesbians-cute Holllywood celluloid?

Re:

[sanpaku.livejournal.com]

Meh. Not comedic genius, though there are a couple of funny moments. The best parts of it depicted a certain interesting Upper West Side dream-view of New York life. The slightly more lesbian character also had a little depth to her (the title character is unbearable at times). But overall it was kind of flat. They didn't milk the stereotypes as much as one expected, but they also didn't do much more than explore the premise. If you read the movie title, you saw the movie...

The most remarkable part is to reflect that there still aren't that many aww-aren't-lesbians-cute movies out there, even though it seems like there should be already. In that sense I got the feeling that this was one of those movies that would inevitably be made sooner or later, and the particulars of the plot were secondary.

[one-11.livejournal.com]

Good movie choices, man! Although I can't believe you never saw "Dog Day Afternoon." Great movie. "Kissing Jessica Stein" I found surprisingly good -- my girlfriend made me watch it under duress and I liked it in spite of myself. Although the ending i s a nice mainstream-pleasing cop-out, if you ask me. That's been happening a lot in movies, though.

Here's something of related interest -- as a WGA member, and with awards season upon us, the studios are now sending me free "screener" DVD's of curren t movies -- stuff that's not even out on DVD yet! Funny thing is, I don't have a DVD player. I'm hoping to get one for my birthday so I can watch these things. So far I've got "Road To Perdition," "Antwone Fisher" and "Catch Me If You Can." Oh, and "Minority Report," but that doesn't count cuz I've seen it and it sucks..o

Re:

[sanpaku.livejournal.com]

I forgot to mention Minority Report and Insomnia on that list. I thought Minority Report was not too bad, actually, for what it was. DVD players are only like a hundred bucks these days.

So you're saying you get to vote on the Academy Fucking Awards. Hm. Tough life.

No...

[one-11.livejournal.com]

...I don't get to vote on the Academy Awards. I'm not a member of the Academy, I'm a member of the Writer's Guild. But the Guild gives out an annual Screenwriting Award, and the studios are interested in winning any award at this time of year -- it helps them in their Oscar campaigns. So they ply us with free screeners and special screenings and stuff from about Late November through February or so, in the hopes that we'll vote their movies a WGA award. It only slightly makes up for the studios' total and utter disdain for the writer, and the almost inconceivable corruption that characterizes show business in general.i

Re: No...

[sanpaku.livejournal.com]

OK. Sorry about that. Still pretty cool.

[one-11.livejournal.com]

P.S. I still don't think Minority Report is good for what it was. typically one hears that comment applied to movies with only slight ambition. The problem is, this movie had a ton of ambition. It takes on a serious concept in a pretty serious way (albeit with some black comic moments thrown in), and I feel that it does a decent job of living up to its ambitions until the last half hour of the movie, when it becomes a standard "revenge" plot -- and not even a well-reasoned one (how can Cruise's old eye still be used for retinal scans? Wouldn't they delete his retinal code from the system after he became a hunted pre-criminal?). And the ending's a huge fairy-tale sell-out. Another example of the "Jessica Stein" syndrome I mentioned above.

Re:

[sanpaku.livejournal.com]

Well, Spielberg movies always have that kind of ending. I guess that I found it interesting visually, kind of like A.I., and got engaged in the story, even if it didn't make that much sense. I think the guy knows how to make an appealing movie even if it doesn't stand up to careful examination... which I know is bad, but I still have to say I don't want my 99 cent rental back.

Agreed...

[one-11.livejournal.com]

...Probably not a bad flick for a 99 cent rental. And definitely cool-looking. Also: a pal of Frank Lloyd Wrong and I was a featured actor in it -- Daniel London; he's the creepy guy who takes care of the pre-cogs. Yay, Dan! Y

Re: Agreed...

[sanpaku.livejournal.com]

Wow! Local boy makes good. I never would have noticed that.