Meta-media

In the past week, I have watched three films about film. The first was Inland Empire, which, as Bryant mentioned, we watched on Monday. Things he didn't mention were that the Oak Street Cinema is really old¹ and charming in a Joyo Theater sort of a way, with broken seats and tiny, clammy, vaguely eerie basement restrooms like the ones in older churches; that the film was 172 minutes long; or, specifically, that it was crazy--the salient feature, I believe, of Lynch films. There were parts I really liked, but it could have benefited from some serious editing; I think it was at least 70 minutes too long.

The second was The Holiday, which I got from Redbox and watched by myself because I was sad and lonely after Bryant left on Wednesday. It was thoroughly and unwaveringly fluffy, but so pretty that I was hardly irritated at the (radiant, granted) overacting of Cameron Diaz and saccharine plot, and for at least a scene or two was (spoiler warning!) completely enthralled with the idea of Jude law as a beautiful, charming, sensitive, book-editing widower given to tears, with two delectably large-eyed and politely British-accented daughters, whom he was raising by himself.²

Finally, there was Hollywoodland, which, despite attractive scenery featuring fabulous 50s era glamour--and Adrien Brody!--ultimately fell flat. I'm going to issue another spoiler warning here and say that the ending, rather than prompting any interesting thought due to its open-endedness (as did Inland Empire), was a boring cop-out that didn't follow from the previous material--more of a cessation than a conclusion.

Which is what I'll do now.

¹It appears to have been built in 1916
² This video seems to hit most of the high points

If you can't be cute...

"Ah, the fellow is clever. That's what I always think about when I read Agamben. Clever. Not deep: clever." --Hoon on Giorgio Agamben

Seasonal firsts

Wednesday: Running--2 miles!
Thursday: No long underwear!
Friday: Iced coffee! Shoes without socks!
Saturday: Bedroom window open!
Sunday: All windows open! Iced tea! Bike ride, without gloves or hat, and with pants rolled up instead of tucked into socks!

Finally! Spring!

Photo by Bryant.

Forty-two

"Beyond need, the object of desire is, humanly, the miracle; it is sovereign life, beyond the necessary that suffering defines. This miraculous element which delights us may be simply the brilliance of the sun, which on a spring morning transfigures a desolate street....

"What is the meaning of art, architecture, music, painting or poetry if not the anticipation of a suspended, wonder-struck moment, a miraculous moment?...

"To know is always to strive, to work; it is always a servile operation, indefinitely resumed, indefinitely repeated. Knowledge is never sovereign: to be sovereign it would have to occur in a moment. But the moment remains outside, short of or beyond, all knowledge. We know regular sequences in time, constants; we know nothing, absolutely, of what is not in the image of an operation, a servile modality of being, subordinate to the future, to its concatenation in time....

"But these moments, like the deeply rhythmed movements of poetry, of music, of love, of dance, have the power to capture and endlessly recapture the moment that counts, the moment of rupture, of fissure. As if we were trying to arrest the moment and freeze it in the constantly renewed gasps of our laughter or our sobs. The miraculous moment when anticipation dissolves into NOTHING, detaching us from the ground on which we were groveling, in the concatenation of useful activity."

--Georges Bataille, The Accursed Share (Robert Hurley, Trans., Zone, 1993), 201-203

Thinking Blogger

Mandy at The Whaling Wall has nominated me for the Thinking Blogger Award, which is exciting, because she is A Thinker--an introspective, honest, funny one, who I've never met in person but like and admire from afar.

In return, I hereby name and celebrate five, of many, thoughtful bloggers who make me think:

1. Jeff* at Pack Light. If ever there was a thinking blog, Jeff's is it.
2. Angela at Barberland. Careful observations, thoughtfully shared.
3. Chelsey* at Warmed-Over Soapboxes. Clever indeed--and witty!
4. Scott at One More Wanderer. More Lincoln thinkin'.
5. Ted* at Randomworks. Pretty much the best domain name ever, and thoughts to boot!

So here's how it works:

1. If, and only if, you get tagged, write a post with links to five blogs that make you think.
   
2. Link to this post so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme.
   
3. Optional: Proudly display the Thinking Blogger Award with a link to the post that you wrote (available in silver or gold version).

Thanks to those of you bloggers who make me think... and to those of you readers who don't demand that I always make you do so.

*Spouse also has a thinking blog--bonus points!

St. Patrick's Day

"We're Irish," said the East African man next to me in the coffee shop yesterday, smiling as he gestured toward a group of similarly dark-skinned friends.

"Just kidding!"

Shot

So it appears I was a bit cavalier about Wednesday's vaccination. By 8:00 p.m., when the nurse had suggested my shoulder would start to really hurt, I was still feeling fine. As I was getting into bed around 11:00, it was becoming pretty sore, but during the night it actually woke me up. Repeatedly--which those of you who have attempted as much know is a challenge. I'm not sure whether I actually had a fever in the night (I know my 1992 shot gave me one), but my miserable dreams would certainly support the theory.

Yesterday morning my shoulder was swollen and tender and I took the ibuprofen I clearly should have taken before bed, which did help, although it was still very sensitive to the touch. I was able to sleep through last night, and now it only hurts when I reach up or bump it.

Moral: If you are due for a tetanus booster, you should get one. But by all means, take some drugs! I may be a pansy--but this shot doesn't mess around.

On a happier note, here is a picture Bryant took last week of me shaking snow out of my highly inappropriate shoes at Lake Calhoun. It felt springlike, so we stopped after my interview to watch the snowkiters and for me to take my first--and last--walk on the (disconcertingly melt-y) lake while it was still frozen. Now our snow is almost gone. Spring is coming!

1,012 words

I got my tetanus booster today (now, with pertussin--pesky whooping cough!), and wanted to post a tough picture like Ellen's. 'Turns out, sadly, I'm just not that tough.

Deserted: islanded

A new meme, courtesy of Leah, and more fun than outlining tomorrow's presentation on Roger Caillois.

Five albums and one alternate that I would want with me on a desert island:*

1. U2: The Best of 1980-1990
2. REM: Green (or Out of Time... or maybe The Best Of [which I don't own, but would consider buying to take onto the island])
3. Elaine Meyer: Promised Land
4. Death Cab For Cutie: Plans
5. Simon & Garfunkel: The Best of Simon and Garfunkel (I tragically don't own this album, and need it)
Alternate: Various: All the Hits Italia Autunno 2002

I'm getting a little sad thinking about leaving the rest of my music behind, although the odd thing is that I rarely listen to the CDs I own. There aren't all that many, for one thing. I also tend not to be able to concentrate when I listen to music, and my recent pursuits require rather a lot of concentration. I listened to a lot of music last year when I was running all the time, but all chopped up on my MP3 player.

I ended up listing the albums I did because they are the ones that, when I've listened the whole way through, I just want to start over again, and the only thing that might satisfy is one of the other albums on the list. I didn't go for a good overall mix or anything--just albums I want to play obsessively. There are some really good ones--the Smiths, Tori Amos, Depeche Mode, and the Shins, to name a very few--that I like a lot, but are a bit too tiring to listen to over and over.

My list is also not very creative. There's nothing too quirky on here. It's also not new; "Plans" is the closest, and it's two years old.

I am not precisely satisfied with it, but there it is. Now, post yours!


* No mixes (so goodbye to Ellen's several fabulous personalized mixes, including "CCD," "CCD2," and "Gettin' Outta Here Music"; Bryant's "Spring Break 2005!"; Austin's "Average Homeboy Party Mix"; Klaralynn's inimitable 80s Dance Music Volumes 1 and 2; and JM's "Given the Time," which is not exactly a mix but which I'm afraid I can't count in the regular list because it hasn't actually been published) and no singles; I hope I'm not out of line with the Best Of albums, which I'll admit are a bit of a cheat (though chosen for their virtue!).

Hibernating

On Wednesday, the 21st of February, it hit 47 degrees. 47! I was inspired and took these pictures:

The next Friday, it started to snow, and snowed all weekend--our first real storm of the year.

I dug my car out to move it to the other side of the street. The next weekend, it snowed again.

Bryant posted better pictures.

I am tired of winter.