Anniversary

Yesterday marked the three-year anniversary of ‘words mean things.’ (The Chandler post doesn’t really count, although I still like it, which is why I kept it.)

I’ll spare you the whole “what this thing is and what it means to me” deconstruction, because I did that last year, with my 999th post. I’ll just say, to everyone reading these words: thank you.

28 Days Later

I liked Danny Boyle’s non-zombie zombie movie – it was stylish, well-acted, and tense/shocking at times, if not really scary. The digital video gave it a distinctive look that I enjoyed. But for some reason, most of it evaporated from my head soon after we left the theater. It just didn’t have the weight that I expected; the dread. It seemed more like a film school project than a story about people dealing with the end of the world.

I liked it much more just as we left the theater than I do now. Like a rollercoaster ride, it was thrilling in the short term, but didn’t leave much behind.

One of the reasons I like Boyle so much is that he directed one of my favorite movies, “Shallow Grave.” And there’s more dread and weight to that movie, about a group of friends dealing with a dead roommate and a suitcase full of cash, than there is here.

If you want a brief fun ride, it’s worth it. But if you want something that will stick with you once the lights come up, rent “Shallow Grave” instead.

“They drink a lot of Pepsi in the post-apocalyptic world, don’t they?”

-Me, responding negatively to the product placement in Danny Boyle’s non-zombie zombie picture, “28 Days Later”

I read recently about a chain of discount movie theaters opening up in England (can’t find the link). You buy your tickets online on a sliding scale – the further before the showing, the less the tickets cost. Then you go through a subway-style turnstile at the theater, scanning your ticket as you enter. There’s no concession stand, but you can bring your own food as long as you take your garbage away with you. I don’t remember specifically, but there probably aren’t any previews – but no ads, either. (We saw eight of them at “28 Days Later.”)

I would patronize this kind of place in a heartbeat – if they could keep the dang movie *in focus.*

“In order to appreciate the sunshine, you also have to appreciate the rain.”

-Quiz Kid Mike Van Sistine

Recently I’ve been toying with the idea of buying the online game “Star Wars Galaxies.” I haven’t played any other traditional online roleplaying games, because I’ve been put off by being squashed by higher-level players, and the seemingly endless cycle of kill monster, level up, kill monster. But from what I’ve seen so far, SWG takes pains to allow people to play the game however they want, and gives lots of alternatives to monster killing. Plus, there are 10 distinct “planet” environments, and exploration of new stuff would be a major draw for me.

I did enjoy The Game Neverending for a while, but the beta has been over for months and there’s no sign of the “real” game yet.

The other problem is, I tend to get frustrated/bored with games easily, which is why I mostly just play demos these days. That’s not a possibility with SWG. Still, I’m tempted. Any advice from people who play these games would be welcome.

According to SFGate.com, GWB and Co. will be spending more than $400,000 a day between now and November 2004 on his re-election campaign. So in order to keep a job he already has, he will be spending as much as he makes in a year every single day for 16 months.

Put another way, in one day our President will be spending 24 times what I made last year.

Looking at her site again for the first time in a while (see previous post), I found that, like all proper wackos, Mrs. du Toit has an enemies list. And boy is it long. When you’re in the company of both Richard Nixon and Moe Szyslak, you know you’re on to something.

Mrs. du Toit, meet Justice Scalia.
Justice Scalia, meet Mrs. du Toit.

From an AP story about the Supreme Court striking down Texas’ anti-sodomy law today in a 6-3 vote:

“The court has largely signed on to the so-called homosexual agenda,” Scalia wrote for the three. He took the unusual step of reading his dissent from the bench.

“The court has taken sides in the culture war,” Scalia said, adding that he has “nothing against homosexuals.”

The Shape of Things

I must be in a particularly misanthropic and cynical phase right now, because I quite enjoyed this movie. It’s the usual Neil LaBute m.o., cardboard characters playing out the worst in human nature. But I liked this more than “In the Company of Men,” because that went so over the top that it was hard to grab hold of anything other than your instinctive outrage at these people’s behavior.

In “The Shape of Things,” I saw representations (unrealistic and stagy as they were) of the real ways people hurt and betray each other. And how people who allow themselves to be manipulated and taken advantage of are often complicit in their own pain.

I liked how the notions of who is a sympathetic character in a traditional movie take a beating here. The “nice” people in the story are, if anything, worse than their “mean” counterparts.

I know, I make it sound like a real fun time at the movies. But I think it’s a good thing to be shaken up a little every once in a while; it beats being lulled to sleep.

Last night my brother Matt told me on the phone that since I had talked so much on my site about how great “Punch-Drunk Love” was, he made a special trip to the video store to rent it.

I tried to tell him I wouldn’t have recommended the movie to *him*. Our tastes in movies are, shall we say, somewhat different. (He watched “Legally Blonde” four times.) He said he wouldn’t blame me if he hated it. I hope not.

This reminds me of when I recommended “Limbo” to my brother Roby. He hasn’t let me forget that mistake ever since. 🙂