April, 19, 2003 archives

yes, one of the things about watching movies mostly on dvd is that i'm usually running a year or two behind on current films. amélie is simply an enchanting film. going into watching it, i didn't realize it was from the director of delicatessen and the city of lost children.

next time i move, i think i will be able to pack everything i own in 12×6×9 boxes from amazon. (or i would be able to, if i didn't keep throwing them away.)

i've been taking the bus for some errands recently (including to burbank airport), and it's fine enough, but not nearly as convenient as the subway. i can generally just show up at the subway station secure in the knowledge that a train will be leaving with fifteen minutes or so of when i get there, at most. taking the bus takes a lot more planning, and potentially more waiting around. i think i spent more time waiting for the buses to get from the airport to home than on the plane getting from san jose to burbank.

but don't get me wrong, the bus is a very convenient thing if you plan ahead. and if you're an cheeseparing anti-social non-car-owner like me, a good alternative to walking. (i've also been contemplating getting a bike, but i'd hate to sink money into one and then end up not using it very often.)

somehow in between all the movies and hbo shows, i managed to finally polish off bruce sterling's book tomorrow now: envisioning the next fifty years, which is chock full of brain-satisfying goodness. it's a little uneven, but there are big sections that are pure genius, and the whole book clips along like an extended ramble on what form the future is taking as we're making it. definitely something to put on the shelf and revisit in the future.

the big hit was entirely forgettable. but china chow, one of the actresses in the film, graduated from scripps college, which is adjacent to harvey mudd college (where i went), probably within a couple of years of when i did. that doesn't really mean much of anything, but there you go.

and when it comes to acting, marky mark is still the wrong wahlberg.

(and a rare event: i've depleted my local four-film netflix queue. yes, four films, even though they don't offer such a plan any more. i guess that is one of the perks of being a customer for nearly three years.)