Style without substance

Last weekend, Zack and I hopped on BART to Embarcadero and caught a screening of Michel Gondry's latest, "The Science of Sleep". Inevitably, this movie has been compared to Gondry's last effort, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, which I consider to be a postmodern masterpiece, a meditation on love, memory and relationships. Without Charlie Kaufman penning the script, Gondry's work becomes even more nonlinear and fragmented. Gael Garcia Bernal and Charlotte Gainsbourgh are beguiling as Stephane and Stephanie, neighbors who meet cute and are obviously meant for each other. But charm and good acting is not enough to flesh out a wisp of a script. I enjoyed Gondry's stylistic flourishes - it's refreshing now, to see special effects that are not CGI derived, and it's hard not to be charmed by Gondry's enthusiasm for filmmaking. He brings a certain joie de vivre that I find invigorating on screen, even without Kaufman. I think it's a little unfair to compare the two movies, so I wasn't expecting the same sort of experience as Eternal Sunshine. That being said, I enjoyed the movie. It wasn't brilliant and it didn't sear my emotions, but I appreciated it.

Watch what you pray for

I apologize in advance if this hits a hot button with Christian evangelicals out there, but I find a VERY disturbing trend in thinking that I want to address.

I don't think it is proper to pray for another soul, ANY soul, to suffer judgment. On the contrary, as Christians we are called to pray that all souls are saved. This may not be explicitly spelled out, but the "love your enemy" doctrine as clearly stated in Matthew, extends to the afterlife as well. Don't you think so?

Wouldn't it be better to have all God's children in heaven, or is it some exclusive club?

Yes, I realize everyone won't be saved. I still pray that they will.

Some Teachers

I remember swimming in the ocean, being caught in a rip current. The way things went, it took me a while to realize I was in the current, heading into deep water. I ended up being rescued. I am sure that, if I had immediately started to swim parallel to the shore to get out of the current, I would have made it fine to shore.

The ocean is a cruel teacher, but you can't fail with her. She won't let you fail.

SOme teachers are the same way.

I don't like memes...

but I will say that there are several interesting lists of books that many have posted on their blogs. Like my wife's, for instance. Or Christine's. Or Jen's. I've got nothing that good to contribute, except that everyone should read Aztec by Gary Jennings. Much of it is over-dramatized, and the sex is played up a LOT (the Mexica were actually rather prudish in many aspects of thier culture. Still, there was a world, a whole world, that was so alien that it could have been on another planet, and my people inhabited it. We were graceful, beautiful, and pitiless. That world is gone, and we are all impoverished for its loss.

These Days

"... These days I sit on corner stores and count the time in quarter turns to ten.

Please don't confront me with my failures. I have not forgotten them."

Jackson Browne, as performed by Nico

These Days

Why don't you just give me the money

If I had enough money to buy property, pay the bills I have, and occasionally buy gifts for friends, I would feel comfortable.

Right now, I either have too much money, or not enough. I have enough money to spend it on wasteful stuff and not enough to make the HUGE jump out of debt and into a home.

Why don't you just give me the money I need, and only the money I need? I'll clean up bodily fluids, move heavy stuff, expose myself to toxic substances, whatever. Seriously.

Reptile Pet

I apologize in advance to all you who have reptile pets and feel you have a bond with the animal.

I am the reptile pet. You keep me in your home, imagining we have a rapport. I keep thinking "Are you small enough to eat?"

Speaking of the Spartans...

I believe this flub to be a misunderstanding. That being said, it's time to understand that the differences between East and West are old, old, old. They are older than the Byzantine Empire, older than the Crusades. The differences pre-date Christianity and Islam.

What's to be done about the differences? I suggest religious leaders model a spirit of cooperation and healing. The Holy Father could take a lead on this. Maybe that would make me, a Catholic, a little more comfortable with him at the helm.

With everyone jazzed for Fall

I gotta put my two cents in:

Fall is really depressing for me. The sun is leaving. Winter is coming.

I am a child of the sun. The cold time is not for me or my ilk.

Quick musing

I would dislike it intensely, but I would be a better person as a Spartan than I am as a crass consumer.

My favorite paraphrase about them:

"Athens makes poetry; Sparta makes men."

A quick and dirty list of faults

- I am slow to forgive

-I allow my pride to cloud my judgement

- I am prone to depression and regret

- I feel socially inadequate when I feel down

- I have an annoying voice

- I keep stress in unhealthy places

- I have a chip on my shoulder about money

- I can know something is really bad but go through it as though I were watching someone else do it; I lose my sense of agency

- I can't shut up

- I imagine that my view of things is right and others' view, insofar as they don't agree with mine, must be wrong

- I would bend over backwards to help someone who doesn't like me and treats me badly, but my close friends I sometimes leave in the lurch

- I enjoy self-destructive behavior

- I can't normalize my relations with my father, despite trying to do so

- My austeries are an obvious form of OCD; I ritualize commonplace behavior to allow me to cope with the world


This is just off the top of my head.

You know you are near rock bottom when...

You are actively looking forward to Snakes on a M'f'n Plane at the Parkway as your treat after the hell that you call a Thursday at the office.