Why'd it take me so long?

Why'd it take me so long?

For some reason, I only just got a membership to Netflix.com. What the hell was I thinking not having it for so long? The service is fast, it's library comprehensive. I've returned to the site time and again to rate more movies that I've seen or to add more movies to my queue. As of right now, I've already watched four movies they've sent (Eyes Wide Shut, The Day the Earth Stood Still, Man on Fire and Secret Honor), and I've got about...mmmm 156 left to go in my queue so far. I've rated about 850 so far. I've suddenly re-discovered my love of film, and it seems I've opened up a floodgate. With the nature of the Internet, I just keep making connection upon connection with movies I've seen, those I want to see, those I wouldn't normally see, those I need to see again, etc.

At the moment I'm watching Wong Kar-Wai's 2046, and I've renewed my crush on Faye Wong. Freakin' adorable.

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Arthur Miller dead at 89

Arthur Miller dead at 89

Looks like Miller is the third of three of big names to pass in the last few weeks. Weird how these things really do tend to happen in threes (or at least I'm claiming I predicted this).

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Hey buddy, you notice that big, pink elephant?

Hey buddy, you notice that big, pink elephant?

I just finished If on a Winter's Night a Traveler last night. I was anticipating some kind of twist ending because when I was doing background stuff last week, a guy came up to me and started talking about the book. He said he'd read it and--this being the key--he "thought he was a pretty bright guy", but he didn't see the ending coming at all. Now, if you've read the book, you know that there isn't really a big surprise at the end. There's a small, clever revelation that most people would have figured out early in the book. After finishing the book, I was thinking of what that guy had said (among other things more directly book-related) and feeling like he missed all the big neon signs along the way. The signs that said, "The ending doesn't matter!" or "The experience is the thing!" It's not like Calvino was reticent about his intentions for the novel within every chapter of the book.

There's a quote from the book--the only one I highlighted, I believe--that pretty much sums up in Calvino's words why authors of literature write and why readers read (spoken by the author character Silas Flannery): "I expect readers to read in my books something I didn't know, but I can expect it only from those who expect to read something they didn't know." Of course, it's difficult to say what Calvino didn't know he was doing with his novel. It is--to use a much maligned prefix for any of those studying "texts" instead of films or books--very meta-.

Just makes me think that the Fellow Reader missed out on what the book was about. Then again, ...a Traveler also discusses--among other things--the subjectivity of the reading experience. So perhaps I missed something special about the ending, but I'd just like to think that I'm a more sensitive reader than the other guy.

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EXXtreme reading II: this time it's personal

EXXtreme reading II: this time it's personal

I'm not certain if I'm unusual in this respect, but I expect my reading experiences to be more thought-provoking and cerebral than, say, movies I watch, comics I read, or games I play. There isn't a single book on my shelf that I'd consider beneath me. I'm not in the habit of purchasing anything that was a New York Times Bestseller.

For example, I'd heard about The Da Vinci Code from several people and decided to just download the audiobook rather than get the book from the library. Out of five CD's, I've managed to make it through one and a half. I started it a week ago, but I quickly realized that it was a book for normies. I could easily predict every plot twist before it happened, and this was clearly a book that favored plot over character. I keep saying that I can knock out two CD's just walking around town doing errands in a day, but listening to Brown's prose is like voluntarily kicking myself in the nuts. Unfortunately I've got the gumption to finish what I started, so I'll just end up being metaphorically sterile I guess.

I complain about popular literature, but I also own movies like Attack of the Killer Tomatoes and Phantom of the Paradise. Perhaps it's the investment of time involved with a novel as opposed to a film. I should fucking better still be thinking about a novel I read a week down the road; I spent two weeks reading it.

Of course I write this as I watch Eyes Wide Shut for probably the sixth or seventh time over the course of the last four years, still trying to wrap my head around the ideas expressed in the film. Then again, I've got Man on Fire to watch next in my queue. Hmmm...

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EXXtreme reading

EXXtreme reading

I just finished Umberto Eco's Serendipities (except for the last essay). I just passed the halfway point in Italo Calvino's If on a Winter's Night a Traveler, and I think my next read is Voltaire's Candide. After that--which looks to be a rather short read--I was thinking maybe The Plague by Albert Camus? Or Fury by Salman Rushdie? I don't know. What do people read these days?

These are the life and death decisions I now have to make everyday. I'm living on the edge, baby.

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