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Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time tells the story of a cosmologist whose speech is interrupted by a little old lady who informs him that the universe rests on the back of a turtle. "Ah, yes, madame," the scientist replies, "but what does the turtle rest on?" The old lady shoots back: "You can't trick me, young man. It's nothing but turtles, turtles, turtles, all the way down."

Did I mention I caught Matrix: Reloaded on Thursday? Despite his 6:30am wake-up time, I dragged the boyfriend out for an opening-night viewing and being the good sport that he is, he reluctantly obliged, but all the better; we were glad to see it.

However, comma. There were a few parts of the show that didn't really jive in my mind the way the first one did. I mean, the first Matrix was solid. Everything fit, the fight scenes, the plot, the characters, the mythological references, the geekspeak. Since I've had a few days for it to sink in, I've been going through the reviews and articles online and most seem to mirror my original opinion that the movie was fun, but it was a little over the top, boasting an eye-rolling pseudo-intellectualism and some impressive, but ultimately shallow literary allusions. Kind of like this website. But I digress.

Despite cringing at some of the quasi-Shakespearean doublespeak, I did get sweaty palms during Morpheus's fight on top of the semi. Any movie that can give me sweaty palms without featuring Luke Wilson tops my list (sorry, Cale, Owen's smart, but you know Luke's the cute one).

posted Sunday, February 3, 2002

Monte Cristo with Jelly, Please

This Saturday-night-movie-with-Lindsay ritual is setting a record for me. Three weeks in a row now. Tonight, we saw The Count of Monte Cristo, a fully satisfying film with beautiful actors (per Henry Cavil to your right), gorgeous landscapes, revenge, love, and intrigue. A definite should-see. I had considered going out tonight, but after returning a full two-and-a-half hours later, I'm exhausted and merely looking to catch a few good hours of sleep while the gettin's good. It seems lately all I've wanted to do is sleep. Hopefully, the actors in my dreams will be as "dreamy" as in the movie tonight.

Mothman... was, however, a bit chilling in the same way that Blair Witch Project creeped me out. It still had the classic sound effect techniques (sudden, loud noises after a long silence) but was more enigmatic about the title subject. The movie uses the fact that you just don't know what's going on to scare you. It also let's you piece together the clues from the plot to figure out what's going to happen in the end and finally have some idea of what's going on, which is nice for some closure.

I caught Orange County tonight with Lindsay. I have to say it was just what I was in the mood for, although I could have done without the chatty, 12-year-old audience (it felt as though I were watching the movie in a daycare center, prompting me to create my new catchphrase as seen in the title of this entry). I probably came away from the movie with more than most people, because I can completely identify with the main character, Shaun, an aspiring high-school novelist whose application to Stanford is rejected. Oddly enough, I found myself really caring for this guy in the end, and even idly wonder what would have happened to him long after the movie was over.

I suppose I've just really been wanting to escape recently. Not just physically, but mentally. I feel as though I've been floating away lately and would love some time off to get back into my skin. Seeing Orange County sorta helped me do that in a way. I'm leaving on a business trip on Monday, too, which should be a good change of pace.

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