I went to see Rent tonight at the Paramount. I really enjoyed it. I've heard the CD before, but seeing it is a much more enjoyable experience. We were in the nosebleed seats, unfortunately, so I had a bit of trouble understanding everything they were saying, and I couldn't make out their facial expressions. People are always laughing at me because of how fussy I am over movie theater video and audio setup, but let me tell you, when you shell out some serious dough for a show, you deserve some level of minimum quality. I'm glad Rent wasn't like most musicals I've seen. I was ready for something different.
Internet-enabled global commerce is beautiful. You can order the region 3 DVD of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon already. I ordered my copy today. Hopefully it will work on my Apex DVD player. I also got my VCD of The Road Home, directed by Zhang Yimou. It was the first film starring Zhang Ziyi, who played Jen in Crouching Tiger. I'm not usually prone to movie star crushes, but whoa she is a little heartbreaker. She's been my laptop wallpaper for months now.
I received another birthday present today. I'm getting all these gifts early this year, I don't know why. Laura got me the Red Violin soundtrack, by John Corigliano. It's really wonderful, late night music. Some of my best work is done here in the basement I live in, late at night, in the dark, with only the ghost light from my computer monitor. I channel Bruce Wayne, sitting in the batcave late at night, obsessing over matters on the bat computer. I think my personality borders on the obsessive, which can be good at times, lousy at others. I think I'm at an emotional local minimum today.
It's going to be a very busy work weekend. I have to finish writing a specification. That's where the obsessive personality can be a plus. Writing anything, specs, short stories, screenplays...it can be a chore. You just write and write and then sometimes inspiration visits. I've tried waiting for the muse before, and she's a tease.
How is it that our brains store and retrieve little used memories? I got an e-mail from Howie's ex-girlfriend Grace today, and she was telling me about Jon and Su, and it's so odd because I probably wouldn't have thought of them at all unless Grace had brought them up. I'm curious how those types of memories are neurologically cached.
I read something interesting about humans. Our advantage over other animals is that we can attack in this lifetime animals that can only evolve defenses in subsequent ones. Evolution lets those animals down, because those defenses
do not evolve in time to prevent extinction. Somehow this stuck in my mind. It's somehow important to my life right now, but I can't figure out how.