films old and new

-
Work.. it consumes us, surrounds-- no, that's not how I meant to start. I have been pouring myself into work, a mould I am familiar with: staying late, stressing about deadlines, focused in my coding and procrastination. So many lines have passed through my mind and fingers, but to what end they will achieve is yet to be seen. I am not (yet) proud. I am a little worn.

Movies! Lessee...
  1. Where The Wild Things Are (2009). I liked it. Not for kids, I'd say, though sure they'll enjoy parts. The look of the film is wonderful; I couldn't imagine it done better.
  2. Paranormal Activity (2009). Awesome. Enjoyable. Made me laugh at how good it was. Even now I smile thinking of how masterfully they've managed to tap into fear, to draw it out and run with it. Dude, just go see it.
  3. Some Like It Hot (1959). Pretty funny! Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon. I did find that I get uncomfortable watching beautiful women climbing over each other. How very odd.
  4. Bullitt (1968). An incredible, jaw-dropping car chase surrounded by a flimsy plot. The car chase could be the best I've seen.
  5. Adventureland (2009). Entertaining, with plenty of familiar, talented faces. I do find Jesse Eisenberg to be a little too similar to Michael Cera in, well, just about every way except hair. Martin Starr is filling out the "dishevelled-sarcastic-nerd" role quite nicely.
  6. The Queen (2006). A film I'd been meaning to see for a while and finally getting around to. I avoided the hoopla that went on when Princess Di was killed so I learned quite a bit from this film, on top of the insights into the private life of British royalty. I may fail to make it sound interesting but I was surprised to find myself quite liking it.
    7. AGO staircase
  7. Zombieland (2009). Fun. Some gore. Again with the Michael Cera/Jesse Eisenberg thing. Woody Harrelson seems to have been created for his role.
  8. The Graduate (1967). I liked the film, but I'm not sure I understand its impact on American film. Perhaps a second viewing is called for. I did find Ebert's two very different reviews (1, 2) to be quite insightful into what I might be missing. It is pleasant to hear so much Simon and Garfunkel.

What else.. oh, some dude broke into my neighbour's car. I'd always thought of our back alley to be quite safe from such acts. I surely hope this is not a sign, that it's merely a blip to be soon forgotten.

And... I've been feeling low, but that's nothing new, ha. Oh that's right; I had a coldsore and those damnable things always bring me down. Such an ego you have, Mr. Wolf. OH YEAH and I went to the AGO. On a Saturday, no less. But I went in the morning, before the crowds had time to accumulate and choke up the floors and doorways. I quite enjoyed it, the new architecture quite fine to behold, quite fine.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

fifty is the number

-
I turned fifty last month. We had a small party with old faces, lots of laughs, and, at least for me, a reminder of the life I had before the pandemic, before having a kid, before my colon surgery . That is to say, a good time, and I hope to have many more like it. I do feel older, in practical, daily ways. For one thing my eyes have gotten much worse over the past year, so bad that I find myself looking over my glasses to look at my phone. My skin is just ravaged by this dry winter air, well beyond anything I'd ever experienced. A lifetime of neglect and sun-exposure has finally caught up to me. While I'm not exactly getting heavy I have noticed a softness building up around my torso. So over the past few months I've taken to doing modified burpees as my daily exercise and have been pretty happy with the results. I do them in small bursts, HIIT-style, and that seems about the pace I can afford, both on a time and energy level. I do try to play video games but I definitely ...
Read more

Dying, up close

-
In media people are portrayed as alert and cognizant right up to the moment they pass, able to give a final message to a loved one. Not so with my father, and I feel his death is more typical of the experience — a disinterest in watching or reading anything, increasingly jumbled speech, a loss of any appetite or thirst, just long periods of sleep. Finally a day or more of near-constant sleep, his heart beating slower and slower, until we turned away for a moment and he was gone. Though really he had been dying in varying degrees for weeks, his bodily performance a far cry from even a couple months before. It’s been over a month since the funeral  but the events leading up to it are still fresh in my mind, a history where my dad still lives, still has advice for me, still has smiles for his friends and family. My grief comes and goes, gradually trending to a melancholy, a deep sigh in my day. In truth I have been grieving these past few years as signs of my father’s end would appear...
Read more

a return to the mood

-
Image
And yet life goes on. In June we had a short visit to Montreal, packing in the usual sights and flavours, tempered by the heat and our own waning energy levels. We took great advantage of the hotel's pool, swimming a joy I never tire of, encouraging Sora to get more comfortable in the water. I didn't have much opportunity to pick out my old haunts but I could see that the city has grown since my days there, shimmering halcyon days full of youth and opportunity. Indeed every moment on the streets would bring waves of memories, of friends faded or forgotten, my head lost and spinning and trying to breathe it all in again. Obviously very different now but seeing it anew through Sora's eyes gave some fresh pleasure. We made the trip to the recently updated Biosphere, probably the highlight of the trip, the biomes living up to their names. My heart shatters at the thought of our poor Ontario Science Centre being stripped of its wares, each precious exhibit cast out, the unique, ...
Read more