This Hour of Lead
I watched Before Sunset last night. It was totally refreshing because it was all talk and no action. In fact, talking is foregrounded in the movie. There is strictly speaking no plot at all, and that is so refreshing sometimes. I guess because the director wanted to have a conversational feel to the whole movie, he adopted very long shots throughout. For example, a shot may typically last maybe 4-5 min? And that is a long time in cinematic terms, for that's about 5 pages of script you have to memorise, and not screw up! And Julie Delpy is so good! I love the show.
The weather has been rather cool these couple of days and there's something about weather like this that makes you think, contemplate, reminiscence whatever. I don't know if I'm sad thinkng about the past; there's some inkling of pain left but I don't want to go too deeply into that. I guess I just want to be numb to things for a while.
I've dug out some of my old notebooks and I'm really surprised to see that I'm still feeling the same way about a lot of things 5 years ago. My handwriting has really changed quite a bit though. Hmmm.
RIP John Peel (1939-2004)
Wong Kar Wai is god!
For
Mike who asked for a review:
I watched
2046 last night and it was gorgeous! A friend who watched it already suggested that I should only watch it in a pensive mood because it's kind of slow and loops around. The movie is a little slow but once you get into it, it will just sweep you away. The cinematography is so breathtakingly beautiful, you have to excuse the man for taking 5 years with it. And the music is also very good; fits the mood very well. I have to admit though the last 20 min was a little draggy but it's all good nonetheless.
The plot is also a little confusing at times but this is good because it gives me the excuse to watch it again just to clear up some parts. 2046 is supposedly a sequel to
In the Mood for Love which I havent watched, so I dont know how much is already assumed in 2046. I think I will get the In the Mood for Love dvd and then watch 2046 again. Oh and I'm in love with Takuya Kimura. Irrevocably.
I got into a discussion with a friend online abt wkw and he thinks that
Happy Together is his best film while I was rooting for
Chungking Express.
This is ridiculous!
I'm so fucking pissed with the liberty some record stores take upon themselves to price cds as they please. I've been wanting the
Wicker Park OST for a while now and checked prices among the usual suspects. I can't believe the disparity between the 2 stores I've checked. Borders is sellign it for $28.95 but they are out of stock right now; probably for a good reason too cos HMV is selling it for $49.90!! WTF! You dont need a goddamn calculator to see how they are ripping people off. And don't give me that crap about double imports or whatever.Now I have to wait like 10 years cos anyone who wants the CD and owns a goddamn phone will get it from Borders.
I'm back in ze game, baby!!
A stranger just tried to pick me up!! hahaha
As I was waiting to cross the street on my way home today, a car stopped by my side and the driver gestured to me. He looked familiar and so I went up, thinking it's an old schoolmate. But the thing is, we don't know each other!
me: erm, i'm sorry. I dont think we actually know each other
stranger: I thought you were my friend. But you look so familiar, are you sure we don't know each other?
me: no. sorry.
stranger: well, we can get to know each other now. You want to exchange phone numbers?
me: er, I dont think so. Sorry. And I think you have 10000 people at the back waiting to kill you.
So he drove off amidst blasting horns, nothing came out of it, though he's not bad-looking. As I put my earphones back on, White Stripes "You are pretty good looking (for a girl)" has just started and I have to smile. I feel good now.
Dear Diary
I have been writing a lot in a thick notebook that I lug around every day. I actually got it because it's got perforated pages and it's a nice letter-writing size. I have a fetish for notebooks. I keep buying them but never once have I used a notebook till the very last page. I have pretty ones with stripes and stuff which are expensive, but also free movie tie-in ones. I even used to make my own notebooks too.
Mostly I'm not too fussy about them, just as long as the paper is nice to write on with my favourite pen and it's lined. Well, I was saying. This thick notebook I have, I have been writing in it almost everyday since the breakup. For some reason, my thoughts flow easier when I'm writing in it. I haven't really read what I've written for the past 2 months till today and I realise that it charted everything that I've gone through. From the little irritations that gnawed at me on the way to work, to the weird dreams I've had, to the sleepless nights and the hot weather, to the major breakdowns where everything falls apart and I will wonder how I am going to pick myself up after.
Despite being a really thick notebook, I've already written about 1/2 way into it. And I promised myself in the beginning that I will be alright by the time I reach the final pages. It seemed now that whether I want to or not, I am getting better, and I may need to get a new notebook soon cos I'm getting bored with this chapter of my life.
il n'ya pas de hors-texte
Jacques Derrida died Friday night at 74.
He is someone I hold in high esteem for a long time now. It's hard to even type right now. I saw the news today and stared at the TV for a long long time. Tears start flowing and I don't even know why. I mean, I dont even know the guy.
But I've been studying him for so long that I do feel as if I do. I didn't like his stuff at first because I didn't know what he was talking about. But studying him for my dissertation has changed everything. He changed the way I looked at things and taught that I shouldn't take things at face value without analysing the underlying structures on which they are based. This is deeper than mere academics; I try to apply whatever I think I know onto life itself, and it's scary to see how his philosophy holds true even beyond the academics.
R.I.P.
King for a Day, Fool for a Lifetime
It's Friday again and I sigh
The weekend feels hollow now that I no longer look to it
With the same impatience as I used to.
Mondays or Fridays--they are but
Little squares on a calendar to be stuck off
As each day passes me by.
Every little square I strike off takes me
Further away from you and into a place
Where the faceless crowds loom over me and
I no longer have the strength to fight through them as I used to.
That was my weak attempt at writing. From
Guardian, a personality test that hooks you up with poem that best describes you.
You're experiencing a bit of an existential crisis, aren't you? Here's a poem to help you through your long dark night of the soul.
World-Strangeness
STRANGE the world about me lies,
Never yet familiar grown -
Still disturbs me with surprise,
Haunts me like a face half known.
In this house with starry dome,
Floored with gemlike plains and seas,
Shall I never feel at home,
Never wholly be at ease?
On from room to room I stray,
Yet my Host can ne'er espy,
And I know not to this day
Whether guest, or captive I.
So, betwixt the starry dome
And the floor of plains and seas,
I have never felt at home,
Never wholly been at ease.
Sir William Watson (1858 - 1935)
Songscape #3: The Shining
It was one of those days where you wake up and the whole world has gone to blazes. It's running late and if you don't move your arse, you are going to have to spend money that you don't have on a potentially stroke-inducing cab trip through the morning traffic.
It was one of those days where Murphy's Law ruled. You can't find your this-and-that, and the shirt you want to wear is not ironed, etc. After stumbling out of the bathroom and throwing the essentials (iPod, wallet, cigarettes etc) into your bag, you struggled into your adidases and dashed out of the house.
Muttering and cursing under your breath the entire time, you keep checking to see if you've forgotten anything, hoping that something halfway decent will start playing to drive the monday blues away. Dodging in between cars, while the
opening chords*of Badly Drawn Boy's "
The Shining" trickle out, you suddenly look up at the sky and there is a faint sliver of rainbow among the gathering clouds. You can barely make out the red and the blue bits and the rest sort of just blends into the sky. But it is a rainbow nonetheless.
You stared at it for a while, forgetting that you were in the middle of the street. A car horn blasts through and you moved out of the way in time. The day just got that wee little bit better.
* Sorry, I can't find the entire mp3 for "The Shining." The opening chords can be streamed from Amazon while the part where the vocals start can be streamed from
here.
Sad Bastard Shite
My current playlist: (put on repeat)
1. Bright Eyes: Black Comedy
2. Coldplay: The Scientist
3. David Gray: This Year's Love
4. Embrace: Gravity
5. Embrace: Keeping
6. Embrace: Out of Nothing
7. Nine Inch Nails: Hurt
8. Radiohead: Let Down
9. Radiohead: True Love Waits
10. Radiohead: You Never Wash Up After Yourself
11. Sigur Ros: Untitled #3
12. Spiritualized: Ladies and Gentlemen
13. Teenage Fanclub: Mellow Doubt
14. Yo La Tengo: Demons
It's been a bad day today.
:(
