Freezing My Baws Off

The Fountain was a disappointment, despite the fact that I had already lowered expectations after seeing the trailer and reading a review in the Chronicle. It's not a bad movie, per say, it's just not up to the caliber of Requiem For A Dream, or Pi for that matter. I will say that I admire what Aronofsky tried to do, and there are moments that are the signature of a visionary filmmaker - particularly some of the montage sequences set to Mogwai, but the three mini-narratives that make up the film just don't mesh well together. It's part Science Fiction (and whoever compared it to 2001 needs to be shot), part Lord of the Rings, and part contemporary drama, and I just wasn't moved or inspired in any way. Even the photography was kind of a bummer (some of the visual effects were really cool, particularly at the end, but the majority of the scenes were too dark for my liking), which is bizarre, considering how amazing each frame was in Requiem For a Dream.

Currently I'm at work reading Well, which is turning out to be a pretty interesting book. It's not brilliant, and many of the short little fragments that make up the novel want to be great, but just are missing something, but Matthew McIntosh writes some beautiful prose, and I'm digging the post-Modern sensibility, particularly the use of so many different first-person narrators, which the mind wants to assume is the same individual, but the details of the stories suggest otherwise.

I also just purchased The Contortionist's Handbook, Reasons to Live (both thanks to my friend Dave's recommendation) and the soundtrack to Morvern Callar on Amazon. These were just things I've been meaning to acquire, and after reviewing my finances, and realizing I've spent next to nothing this month, it was time to make the plunge. Some people need a lot of money to live, but as long as I can afford Nick's Crispy Tacos, and a few books, CD's, and DVD's each month, I'm really content.

I also am patiently awaiting the arrival of two prints from my friend Tiphanie over at antigirl. Her work is so amazing, and I highly recommend you consider purchasing at least one yourself. My prediction is someday these images will be quite collectable - which is another way of saying quite valuable.

It's freezing this week in San Francisco, as it is in many other parts of the west coast. Our flat doesn't have a working furnace, so we're forced to use those little space heaters, which, while providing some comfort, are about ten times more expensive to use than gas. On top of that, we can't run two heaters at the same time, or else we'll blow the circuit, so my housemate Jennifer and I are forced to rotate heating times. Last night I was too cold to even walk down the hallway to tell her I had turned mine off, so I just called her cell phone to let her know.

Where have we come to as a society when one housemate just calls another one, in the same flat, just to coordinate heating schedules, rather than make the effort to go knock on someone's door?

It's probably best to not over-analyse such things, but sometimes I wonder.