24 hours in a sick mind
I realize now why I couldn't sleep last night. I had caught a 24 hour virus from someone. My roommate Rich? Jason? Bill? It seems like people all around me have been catching the bug. Stayed home sick today. Would sit up occasionally, then have to lie down in a fit of dizziness. Managed to avoid vomiting though, which is a victory. Passed in and out of consciousness,
and had a series of feverish, dreams.
After all that sleep today, now I am wide awake.
Saw the Enemy at the Gates trailer today. Looks promising. I made a short mental list of all the films I'd like to see this year, and there are quite a few, but in my mind, no sure thing. It's worrisome. Lots of films from directors who seem to be on the wrong side of the creative mountain, lots of sequels or remakes, lots of films from directors who've never proved to be very good in the past (read: Michael Bay), and sure to be lots of hype. In no particular order:
Fortunately, most good independent films probably have not been hyped yet, so they will take the place of many of the films above once the year is over and I'm compiling a top 10 list.
While sick today, I watched the first episode of Krystof Kieslowski's
Decalogue. Each one-hour episode is based loosely on one of the Ten Commandments. The first episode was based on the commandment:
"I am the Lord thy God: Thou shalt not have other gods before me."
A university professor violates the commandment by putting his blind faith in a computer. His son adopts his father's belief in the absolute truth of algorithms and mathematical logic, though he is curious about the beliefs of his Aunt, a religious woman. I won't ruin the surprise, as the DVD jacket annoyingly does, but I highly recommend the entire DVD set.
If you enjoy movies, I also highly recommend you pick up any film criticism books by Pauline Kael. I read one of her essays today, and I felt this longing to hear her thoughts on some of the films being made today. I'm sure she'd be disappointed. I highly recommend For Keeps, though it's currently out of print. In fact, most of her books are out of print, which is a shame. For Keeps is an anthology of many of her famous film reviews and essays. I think it may be the most treasured collection of criticism I own. Kael loved movies, and most importantly she was not afraid to treat each film with the most eloquent honesty. In fact, most of her reviews read like essays. She had to retire in 1991 due to Parkinson's disease.
Bill got a promotion to head up the merch team for both music and video today. Congrats to him! Well deserved.
I read somewhere that Sega was going to stop producing the Dreamcast and focus on producing games for the other video game console makers--Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft. Boy, Sony really really shot themselves in the foot by missing their production targets on Playstation 2. They missed revenue and earnings, and I think their dream of having the Playstation 2 be their Trojan horse into the homes of families everywhere is pretty much dead. I wonder who lost their job over that whole fiasco. I predict Microsoft will capitalize on Sony's mistake in a big way.
Sony has always wanted to get a stranglehold on the entertainment/computing brain of households everywhere, but they have never come close. Not that anyone else has done any better, but somehow I expected more from Sony. They've just lacked, I don't know, a certain sense of monopolistic vision and ruthlessness. Good engineers. They just need a bloodthirsty CEO like Bill Gates.
and had a series of feverish, dreams.
After all that sleep today, now I am wide awake.
Saw the Enemy at the Gates trailer today. Looks promising. I made a short mental list of all the films I'd like to see this year, and there are quite a few, but in my mind, no sure thing. It's worrisome. Lots of films from directors who seem to be on the wrong side of the creative mountain, lots of sequels or remakes, lots of films from directors who've never proved to be very good in the past (read: Michael Bay), and sure to be lots of hype. In no particular order:
- Moulin Rouge (May 31)
- Pearl Harbor
- A.I.
- Enemy at the Gates (Mar)
- Planet of the Apes (Aug. 9)
- Kiss of the Dragon (Oct. 4)
- The Fellowship of the Rings
- The Road to Perdition
- Captain Corelli's Mandolin
- Hannibal (Feb. 9)
- From Hell (Oct. 25)
- Black Hawk Down
- Gangs of New York
- Windtalkers
- Ocean's 11
- Blow
- The Score
- The Panic Room
- Brotherhood of the Wolves
- Harry Potter (Nov. 16)
- Chun Hyang
Fortunately, most good independent films probably have not been hyped yet, so they will take the place of many of the films above once the year is over and I'm compiling a top 10 list.
While sick today, I watched the first episode of Krystof Kieslowski's
Decalogue. Each one-hour episode is based loosely on one of the Ten Commandments. The first episode was based on the commandment:
"I am the Lord thy God: Thou shalt not have other gods before me."
A university professor violates the commandment by putting his blind faith in a computer. His son adopts his father's belief in the absolute truth of algorithms and mathematical logic, though he is curious about the beliefs of his Aunt, a religious woman. I won't ruin the surprise, as the DVD jacket annoyingly does, but I highly recommend the entire DVD set.
If you enjoy movies, I also highly recommend you pick up any film criticism books by Pauline Kael. I read one of her essays today, and I felt this longing to hear her thoughts on some of the films being made today. I'm sure she'd be disappointed. I highly recommend For Keeps, though it's currently out of print. In fact, most of her books are out of print, which is a shame. For Keeps is an anthology of many of her famous film reviews and essays. I think it may be the most treasured collection of criticism I own. Kael loved movies, and most importantly she was not afraid to treat each film with the most eloquent honesty. In fact, most of her reviews read like essays. She had to retire in 1991 due to Parkinson's disease.
Bill got a promotion to head up the merch team for both music and video today. Congrats to him! Well deserved.
I read somewhere that Sega was going to stop producing the Dreamcast and focus on producing games for the other video game console makers--Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft. Boy, Sony really really shot themselves in the foot by missing their production targets on Playstation 2. They missed revenue and earnings, and I think their dream of having the Playstation 2 be their Trojan horse into the homes of families everywhere is pretty much dead. I wonder who lost their job over that whole fiasco. I predict Microsoft will capitalize on Sony's mistake in a big way.
Sony has always wanted to get a stranglehold on the entertainment/computing brain of households everywhere, but they have never come close. Not that anyone else has done any better, but somehow I expected more from Sony. They've just lacked, I don't know, a certain sense of monopolistic vision and ruthlessness. Good engineers. They just need a bloodthirsty CEO like Bill Gates.