Reading Albert Camus’s book. So far, I can’t say I’m impressed. He’s got a big vocabulary. So do I. I’ve experienced often enough the fact that people assume that this implies intelligence far beyond what actually exists. Now I have evidence: this book, which I’m reading because of a recommendation saying it was quite profound, [...]
Cyrano de Bergerac was the first rapper. What? Most rap is the singer bragging about their accomplishments. The most frequently bragged about accomplishments: The ability to compose verse on the fly. The ability to seduce women with the aid of said verse Proficiency with a weapon Cyrano was accomplished in all of this, before the [...]
At the beginning of this month, I got a task: I was to produce a comedic video short, 10-15 minutes long, celebrating the tenure of the BN Commander, to be shown at his outbound Hail and Farewell dinner. One of my peers would back me up, and I’d have command support for getting the filming [...]
Met, ate a fancy dinner, saw a performance of Miss Saigon. It turns out that the play’d been translated entirely into Korean. Not particularly surprising given the theater location, but the website played the songs in English. Left the theater, got the speech that’s becoming creepily familiar. “You’re a great guy and I’ve enjoyed our [...]
Just finished this book. It is a gem. Some stories are great because of the tremendous imagination of the author. Some are great because of the engaging tone and style in which they are written. This book is great because every word intensifies a single emotion: despair. Not one is wasted or counterproductive. I like [...]
Nick Harkaway’s The Gone-Away World is a truly excellent book, particularly for an extra-long duty day. When you’re not fatigue-drunk, he’s got an engaging style and wild wit. When you in fact are, the story perfectly matches the sense that nothing is provably real.
Avatar: visually very nice. It’s good to see that we’re past the Uncanny Valley. The story wasn’t anything special, but this film should be remembered for its innovations in CGI if for nothing else. I did wonder, though: where did Sigourney Weaver find a Stanford t-shirt sized for a creature ten feet tall? Speaking of [...]
Realism is easy. Everybody knows and agrees on what reality is, at least in the visible details. Anime is never perfectly realistic; if that were the goal, it’d be simpler to film a live action series. Despite the fact that certain aspects might be highlighted, caricaturized, or extrapolated, simple reality remains the baseline of the [...]
This is an odd film. It’s the Ramayana, illustrated in a dizzying medley of visual styles and set to roaring twenties blues. It’s narrated by a trio of people who seem to be modern Indians-on-the-street asked to tell the story collaboratively without reference to authorities. It’s also intercut with what appears to be an autobiographical [...]
I’m halfway through Anna Karenina now. Like most people who ever had a high school English course, I tend to be wary of big famous novels by big famous authors, but I’m actually finding it surprisingly accessible. It certainly helps that I’ve got a modern translation, but I suspect that even with an older one [...]