The title is meant to explain my absence…but here’s what’s been on my mind…
- Saw the film “Never Let Me Go
” on Saturday, which is based on the book of the same name by Kazuo Ishiguro (author of The Remains of the Day
). First off, I’m fairly certain that I have read the book, but I remembered very little (if any) about it…which is pretty much par for the course. Anyway, the movie was pretty decent, if unspectacular. It’s definitely in the depressing, thoughtful, dark category (which is awesome, obviously) but it has a sci-fi twist that made it a bit less emotionally gripping for me. The premise is rather outlandish (I won’t give it away completely, but it involves human clones raised to be organ donors…yeah, that pretty much gives it away, but what can you do?). I read somewhere that it is perhaps an extended metaphor representing a generation’s lost youth…but I’m not sure I buy that. All that being said, however, it’s worth seeing if only because Carey Mulligan is in it…and she is as cute and talented as ever. That and the girl they found to play the child version of Carey’s character looked like she could have been a clone. Would make sense, I guess. Oh yeah, and it was also pretty cool that the sound started skipping in the middle of the film, garbling some of the dialog. In one key, climactic scene in which the whole situation was being explained, one character said something along the lines of, “And this is perhaps the most important two words you will ever hear…” and then the sound cut out. The character’s next line was, of course, “Do you understand?” Classic.
” on Saturday, which is based on the book of the same name by Kazuo Ishiguro (author of The Remains of the Day). First off, I’m fairly certain that I have read the book, but I remembered very little (if any) about it…which is pretty much par for the course. Anyway, the movie was pretty decent, if unspectacular. It’s definitely in the depressing, thoughtful, dark category (which is awesome, obviously) but it has a sci-fi twist that made it a bit less emotionally gripping for me. The premise is rather outlandish (I won’t give it away completely, but it involves human clones raised to be organ donors…yeah, that pretty much gives it away, but what can you do?). I read somewhere that it is perhaps an extended metaphor representing a generation’s lost youth…but I’m not sure I buy that. All that being said, however, it’s worth seeing if only because Carey Mulligan is in it…and she is as cute and talented as ever. That and the girl they found to play the child version of Carey’s character looked like she could have been a clone. Would make sense, I guess. Oh yeah, and it was also pretty cool that the sound started skipping in the middle of the film, garbling some of the dialog. In one key, climactic scene in which the whole situation was being explained, one character said something along the lines of, “And this is perhaps the most important two words you will ever hear…” and then the sound cut out. The character’s next line was, of course, “Do you understand?” Classic.- Went to a media careers event last week. Not sure if I’ve mentioned how much I love these things? Yeah, this one was just as good. First off, this one fellow attendee that was standing next to me at several of the different stalls had to be 12-years-old. No doubt about it. For a moment I felt like I had stumbled into a middle school career day or something. Also, I talked to one chap that was representing a media group that does podcasts and online article publications of all things science. His spiel sounded good…up until the point where he said they didn’t have the necessary funds to pay contributors. My follow-up question was, “Why are you here again?” Google was in the house…pretty exciting if only because their reps had silly t-shirts on as if to rub in everyone’s face, “Yeah, not only are we the most innovative company in the world…we are the most hip as well.” Makes me sick. Take home point from this evening…my colleague and I will definitely be starting our own online journal. Possible tagline…”Intelligent commentary, without the pomposity.” Who wouldn’t read that?
- I embarked on reading “A Tale of Two Cities
” a couple days ago. Primarily because one of my professors, the brilliant Peter Nolan
(if you haven’t read any of his books, you need to), loves Dickens…that and it was free on the Kindle. So far, I’ve found it a lot more readable than I expected and it is very insightful. Lets you see just how permanent the human condition really is. For example, in one scene the rich Monseigneur is riding through Paris in his carriage and hits and kills a child. His reaction is one of anger as to the damage that might have been done to his horses and he goes on to berate the peasants for not being able to take care of themselves and for forever being in the way. While we’ve progressed a long way as a society since the late 18th century…some things remain remarkably constant. While the destitute remain very much with us, modern technology allows us to keep our distance and banish even the thought of such suffering from our minds. The amazing times we live in…
” a couple days ago. Primarily because one of my professors, the brilliant Peter Nolan (if you haven’t read any of his books, you need to), loves Dickens…that and it was free on the Kindle. So far, I’ve found it a lot more readable than I expected and it is very insightful. Lets you see just how permanent the human condition really is. For example, in one scene the rich Monseigneur is riding through Paris in his carriage and hits and kills a child. His reaction is one of anger as to the damage that might have been done to his horses and he goes on to berate the peasants for not being able to take care of themselves and for forever being in the way. While we’ve progressed a long way as a society since the late 18th century…some things remain remarkably constant. While the destitute remain very much with us, modern technology allows us to keep our distance and banish even the thought of such suffering from our minds. The amazing times we live in…- Man, did Michelle and I get splashed last night at The Anchor. Freaking insane is the only way to describe it. Had my veggie burger…my rum and coke…and some Jay-Z and Rihanna blasting on the sound system. Love that place. Good people too. We practically had our own little UN at the table. Luckily it wasn’t raining when they kicked us out at closing time…so we didn’t have to break out our umbrella-ella-ella-ay-ay-ay…
No comments:
Post a Comment