Stranger than Fiction - a review

I don't even wanna read the reviews of this movie, because if anyone has anything bad to say it will just ruin it. I think Will Farrell is taking a similar career path as Jim Carrey when he progressed to Truman Show, a place bordering on comedy and drama. It was a beautiful movie. One of the central dilemmas (mild plot spoiler alert) of the movie is whether the book he stars in is a comedy or a tragedy, and for much of the film you can't really tell whether the film itself is comedy or tragedy. The trailer looks like pure comedy but it's not so clear-cut when you watch the whole thing.

Anyway, I LOVED it. It was that feeling of liberation that so satisfies me in movies like Amelie or (hehe, weird comparison) 28 Days Later, the movie that made me love zombie movies. When everything you were previously doing is not good enough anymore. Emma Thompson was great (she looked so terrifically fucked up). Dustin Hoffman was of course great. Maggie Gyllenhaal was great. Will Farrell was great great great. I didn't really understand why Queen Latifah's character was there, maybe so Emma Thompson didn't have to talk out loud to herself all the time, but that was the only bit that bothered me. A story about both numbers and literature, how often does that happen? Nothing ever got so terrible I couldn't watch it, but it certainly wasn't boring. I cried a lot at the end, and sat through all the credits even though my bladder was full. Alright, I cried through most of Happy Feet so perhaps the crying is not the gold standard of movies, but this one leaves a feeling stuck on me that I don't want to get rid of.

Then we went out for exciting cocktails and followed Clodagh and Christopher through town on many reasonable adventures. An excellent night. Done drinking now!

Oh yeah, and that

Almost forgot to add that we're traveling to Sydney in May. Finally! We're going to eat at Tetsuya's! Yup, just gonna fly over to Australia for dinner. I guess we could do some touristy stuff too, I dunno. Francisco has this ultimate plan to fly to Japan for dinner if the plane fares are low enough, that's the kind of ridiculous plan he appreciates. I got mad at him today for another ridiculous, anti-practical thing he does all the time that makes me anxious. I can't help it, sometimes I'm just crazy. HUMOR IS HARD.

Craft Power

I was eating some crackers from Kris and Brenda's company, Vida Foods, yesterday at work, and realized I survive off of a lot of products friends make. We're all so damn crafty! I've got pins by Leslie on my backpack, tshirts designed by Philip Diaz and Judit, got friends who make beer, build homes, design for fashion shows and make movies, watched Will build his hot tub over Christmas break, admired a fucking hand carved beautiful wooden DVD case Allen made for Sarah. I myself have learned how to make glow-in-the-dark art and wearables, raw food, and various construction tasks. I'd like to learn more about agriculture and winemaking, and that will happen soon. Also, the tshirt ideas list I have is getting longer and longer, time to do something about that. I don't feel too bad about any meltdown of society because with the crew I got, we'll be just fine. Downright comfy (assuming we can find a power source). Matt and Leila can supply all our robot needs and raw food doesn't even need cooking so we'll be fine, right? Anyone know how to make shoes? Or cheese? I think if we have solar power, robots, shoes, and cheese, we'll be ok.

It's really amazing how much energy we all have. It's very inspiring for me. Sometimes I feel like I'm not going anywhere, so it's good to have such powerful optimistic people in every corner. And I'm really glad I don't get the kind of anonymous naysaying posts on my blog that my sister gets. Either a lot of negative people know her, or her blog is well-known enough to gather that sort of creepy anonymous attention. It's really crappy!

I was going to watch breakdancing and stunt biking/boarding competions today at the waterfront downtown, but they delayed it by a day for some reason (they claim because of the weather but I'm staring directly at the exposed sun right now....um, maybe I should stop doing that, might hurt the eyes. Goood thinf I knoe toich ttping.) All good, I'm tired. Working is hard! I want to sit on the couch listening to the washing machine go round and round and read about weight loss and Anna Nicole Smith's death on the internet. Look at gross death pictures, comic strips, food porn. Fantasize about all the things I'm gonna buy once I've earned some money. Joe has the right idea. I think he's still naked today! He's reading nerdy blogs in the next room over while Francisco and Kris are off to see the first of THREE movies in the theatre today. They can't stop or the movie police might book them for being unfaithful. We're meeting up later to see that new Will Farrell movie where's he's a character in a book. Doesn't that movie look great????

Enough writing, too much effort.

2 times the fun

I'm eating a cheese and lettuce sandwich. For lunch I had a pb &j sandwich. I think there's some childhood revisiting going on here. Probably because I went on a "trip" this weekend, which always makes me feel like a little kid again for a while. It was a wierd one. I did 2 things at the same time and it was a little overwhelming. It was hard to differentiate the 2 competing effects, though at times one or the other became more dominant. I'm glad I did it, especially with my newer friends, but probably won't do much of anything again for a long while. I've been getting better and better at living lately. It's easier to talk to people, be independent, find meaning in small places, and I don't want to disrupt the flow. Anyway I've gotten all I could ever hope to get out of vowel #2. I've had deep meaningful conversations, been a superhero, been a sex goddess, ran around like a little kid, decorated, made art, helped beginners out...I feel like when I do it now I'm searching for something that either I've found already or that won't be found with substances. I've done it 11 times now and I think that's enough. It was great to finally be the host for this sort of event though, especially with the beach across the street. There's something really fantastic about being at home with all your stuff, and letting your friends run wild all over your house. Oh god, and the cats. The best conversation I had all night was with The Sneak. Most of it was nonverbal. She put her eyes up very close to mine and licked my face. We used to do that sometimes when she lived on my bed at the Highland House.

There's a short story contest, run by a few of my favorite web comics, going on here. I'm really excited to enter. I've been writing a bit lately, in part because writing this blog is so much damn fun, and it turns out I've got some skill. Maybe because I read so much and just know what things are supposed to sound like. Joe and I have been brainstorming a bit, and are coming up with some kickass ideas. I can't bear to look at the web forums about it though, because either the ideas will throw me off and get stuck in my head, or they'll make me feel bad about my own ideas. It's fun to be writing again, I didn't even notice how much I missed it all these years.

Temping isn't so bad. It's kind of zen, scanning thousands of pages a day. They don't care when I arrive, leave, or take lunch, and tomorrow is Waitangi Day so already I get a holiday. People are nice enough and there's a gazillion places to eat downtown. I can deal for 5 more weeks. Strange how I've already settled into this new pattern. I'm very pleased with myself. Was a bit concerned about going to this new job with a day 2 hangover, but it turns out all the produce I've been eating basically obliterated any sign of physical or mental depression. I have incredible superpowers this week!

My Mom has been writing promotional material for a new college campus loosely affiliated with her jobsite, SUNY Stonybrook. It's an environmental program where they have sustainable agriculture on campus in addition to more politically-oriented studies, are required to do environmental volunteer work to graduate, and live as sustainably as possible for a modern university. It sounds really fun, and she wrote some good stuff about it, very simple and straightforward, no bullshitting around or using college promotional catchy phrase language. If I had any desire to move back to Long Island and if the graduate program was starting soon (right now only undergraduate is starting up), I would definitely apply. I gotta give props to SUNY Stonybrook, they're always experimenting around with small unusual programs, and there's probably no way I would have gotten into MIT if I hadn't participated in a couple of those science summer programs. For a state school, not bad, not bad.