More Songs About Movies And Books:

"In The Mood For Love," which I watched last night after noodles at Ming's, was highly recommended by Ben and Ester, who saw it in Philly last spring, and dismissed as pointless and ridiculous by Scott and Jesse, who saw it at the Cinema sometime. I say it's definitely worthwhile and good, but it certainly has a touch of the pointless and ridiculous. Like the last five minutes, which are unpopulated camera sweeps of ancient temples in Cambodia, when the rest of the movie takes place in Hong Kong (except for a brief section in Singapore towards the end, whose point I also didn't quite catch.) It's obviously a director's movie, and it seems that those are in lately. That's not a bad thing, and actually I think I like Wong Kar-Wai as a director (I wish I could write his name in Chinese characters like in the white-on-red low-budget title sequences). He uses the Mike Nichols (in "The Graduate") thing of repeating the same piece of music many many many times in a row - mostly filmish/Chinese string pieces, with a couple bizarre but gorgeous Nat King Cole renditions of Latin standards ("Aquellos Ojos Verdes" and "Quizas, Quizas, Quizas") - and having them underscore sections without dialogue (in Kar-Wai's case though there's usually not much action going on either.) It really is a beautiful film - the costumes especially. The characterization and story take a back seat to style, but they're charming enough in their vaguely romantic simplicity. I do like the idea of an all-night marathon Mah Jongg game though, anyone up for trying that at school?

The Language Instinct reads quickly (I'm on chapter five now) for something so dense with ideas. It's a funny mix of stuff I already know and stuff I didn't really have a handle on. The last twenty pages I read were basically a gloss of my syntax class, with some background information that Kari didn't touch on (mostly relevant to the focus of the book.) He sort of surreptitiously introduces the concept of an IP, but he puts auxilliaries (actually only modals) as heads of IPs, classifying them separately from verbs. I assume that's just a simplification measure, but it seems odd that he didn't even mention that about it. He sort of discourages you from actually reading Chomsky, but I think I might tackle it anyway. The examples are always fun (he's at least as big a Twain fan as
I am, and he included a terrific paragraph from "Double-Barreled Detective Story" with a "solitary esophagus.") He also refers to some research (later discredited) by "linguist and now Swarthmore College president Alfred Bloom," which was an amusing surprise.

Cloudsplitter continues to be big and meaty and enjoyable. Brigid is curious (as am I) about how close it follows historical record. The impression I got from hearing Banks speak is that he researched quite deeply in preparing to write it, so I assume it's at least as accurate as, say, Mason & Dixon, although that's kind of a dangerous comparison. One of the blurbs on the back says something about some of the characters being "wholly invented" however. I really like Owen as the narrator, although I don't much care for the framing device of having him write letters to a historian's assistant. Presumably he left some writings behind which Banks makes use of? Anyway, it's especially interesting reading this in the wake of two other (pseudo)-historical literary epics, M&D and Sotweed.

"Following," which I've been meaning to see for a while, is good. At least as good as "Memento" is my impression on first viewing. We decided afterwards that Following is more confusing as you watch it (partly because it lets you in on some of the secret, but not enough to really explain it), but Memento leaves more questions unanswered at the end. I liked the way it was shot - gritty and black and white - and the pacing. He (Nolan) has got his thing pretty pat; undeniably entertaining but also intellectually engaging, if more in the sense of a puzzle than anything deeper than that. Plus it's short (70 minutes) which is refreshing in this time of three hour epics. Yeah. Good movie. Funny thing - it starts out seeming like it's going to be unusual and quirky, and then fairly quickly starts to get a bit more normal, so you think it's going to be a more standard experience/discovery/self-realization/crime thing rather than an engaging psychological portrait (he starts by explaining about the "following," but that doesn't become the focus). Then, towards the end, it pulls a couple fast twists. Huh.

What else is new? Well, Danny Loss of all people e-mailed to confess his readership and ask if he could link to this. (Hi Danny. Sorry to sound so surprised, but you know how it is.) I'm been packing; I think I've decided to go with a second checked bag rather than packing a box to mail home. That means heavy, but it's better I guess. Back to school tomorrow. Rebecca and Brigid and (if I'm lucky) Ester(?) and the barn. And the day after that, well hell, all kinds of folks.

stop acting like a bitch already
be a visionary
and maybe you'll see your name in the column of obituaries.......