Saturday, March 27, 2004
The Da Vinci Code
I just read this book in two sittings. The first sitting was about 8 hours, the second was about an hour; but don't start thinking that this book is awesome or anything. It's not. It's nothing compared to the early work of Crichton. I compare it to Crichton, because like him, Dan Brown does his research and makes accessible to the layperson highly specialized fields of study. In this case, it's symbology and Grail lore. The book is interesting though, and is a quick painless read. However, there's not much emotional involvement with the characters, and what twists and turns the book provides, don't really twist or turn you. I'd recommend the book if you've got some free time, but don't make time to read it.
Tuesday, March 23, 2004
My Big Move
I spoke to the Regional Director for the Houston Region today, and now it looks like I'll be interviewing for a position in the new Conroe store which opens on June 4th. Assuming I get that spot, I'd be leaving Austin in mid-May.
Monday, March 22, 2004
Charlie Kaufman is a Genius
I saw two great movies this weekend. The first was Dawn of the Dead, the second was Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
Dawn was a very cool, very scary, action-filled movie, which happens to have zombies in it. It is not a "zombie movie", those movies are not good, this one is. Those movies have bad special effects, and are often so bad you can laugh at them. That does not apply to this Dawn of the Dead, which is based off the original Dawn of the Dead by George Romero made in 1978. If you want a kick-ass/sometimes scary action movie, go see this one.
Eternal Sunshine is simply the greatest movie I have ever seen. I've already seen it twice, and I'm not sure I'll ever get tired of watching it. I can't even put into words what it was like seeing it the first time, it was more of an experience to be had than a film to be watched. The only thing I can compare it to is sky-diving, which is an experience that cannot be relayed in words, it won't do it justice, you've just gotta do it. The film's premise is that Jim Carrey goes to this clinic to have all of his memories of Kate Winslet erased from his mind. The story itself is straightforward enough, but the greatness of the movie comes from the writer, Charlie Kaufman, and the director Michel Gondry. Kaufman has written three awesome movies; Adaptation, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, and Being John Malkovich. While those had great directors, Gondry does an outstanding job of shooting the story exactly the way it needed to be shot. I had expected the movie to be good, but not as good as it is.
Greetings and Salutations or How I Decided to Stop Lying to Myself and Accept the Fact That I'm an Idiot
Not a whole lot has gone on in the month or so since my last post. Last week Dion and I went to Natural Bridge Caverns, which are just north of San Antonio. It was really cool. I went to Carlsbad Caverns when I was a kid, but I don't remember it, so basically these were the first caverns I'd ever been to. I highly recommend visiting a cave to everyone. Lupe and Sam had a garage sale this last weekend, to get rid of lots o' junk. I'm still waiting to hear a date for my transfer to Houston. However, the inspiration for this post's title comes from me accidentally washing my digital camera in the washing machine. It was in a carrying case in my garbage bag of dirty clothes, I forgot it was in there and dumped the whole lot in the washer. It doesn't turn on now. The memory card still works though. My plan is to take it to Best Buy and tell them it quit working; otherwise I'm screwed, and I'll have to buy a new one. All the events in my post took place between Tuesday and Friday of last week. The entire four weeks prior to those days were un-eventful