(no subject)
In the interest of repairing some of the damage I did with the endless barrage of novella-length comments in the previous entry, some light news today, divided into bite-sized bits:
There's going to be a Dirk Gently TV series! Well, I mean technically right now there's just a pilot, and given the sordid history of adaptations of Douglas Adams' work (::cough::Hitchhiker's Guide TV Show::cough::), my hopes aren't that high, but it does bring a smile to my face. There are times when I actually adore Dirk Gently just a little more than Arthur Dent et al, and that's saying something. It also seems to indicate a general trend (at least for the BBC) toward detective fiction and, in case it's not obvious, I'm all for that.
There's finally going to be a new Sufjan Stevens album, and we only have to wait until October! Not into Sufjan Stevens? Read that ridiculous album write-up, at the least. It's a real piece of work, and it borders on the point where I normally throw up my hands and go "What are you doing? If it requires this much of an explanation maybe you should reconsider..." I'm looking forward to the album, though, because I do like Enjoy Your Rabbit, and so far I've enjoyed Sufjan's attempts to pretend the whole Illinoise thing didn't happen quite the way it did (you go ahead and pretend no one noticed you were brilliant man, I promise I'll at least keep trying not to stand around outside your tour bus so I can give you a hug). Plus, you know, it's been five years since the last album, and I actually do enjoy a good verbose album prospectus.
I love that things like this have been a normal part of my summer. I've been using these alerts to figure out good places to lock my bike so it'll be in a shot somewhere in the movie but, unfortunately, by the time I get into town in the morning the all the production vehicles and road blocks have already been set up and I can't sneak onto the set to install my bike in their scene. If I'd been lazy over one particular weekend in July and left my bike outside work I would've nailed it, but... I can't seem to abandon my bike for that long. Also, before they flee the city I aim to find out what on earth their hot air balloon is for. I'm torn between aerial shots and an artificial sun for night filming. I've gotten a pretty good look at it, and it doesn't really look like a camera could be rigged up to it, so I'm more or less at a loss. I think I'm going to have to ask one of their crew-people. If it's an artificial sun for night filming, though... how cool would that be? (I want an artificial sun...) If only this was a movie I had an actual interest in seeing, though, other than as a way to finally piece together all the disparate things I've seen around town.
Addendum (8/27/10): I checked with one of the guys on the set and the giant balloons are, in fact, artificial suns. Okay they're balloon lights, but close enough. Also, fun fact: First major picture use? Titanic.
Also, just for the amusement factor: At work lately there has been a Great Debate over refrigerator etiquette. We've had our problems in the past with people leaving things in there and forgetting about them (or, more often, people quitting or getting fired and leaving things in the fridge). There have been a few loud afternoons where someone went nuts and threw almost everything out. But lately, lately people have been taking offense to the strangest things. This all started a week or so ago, when someone discovered that someone else had left a cup of water in the fridge. "Who drinks a sip of water and then puts it in the fridge?!" There was a lot of outraged finger-pointing, which even alighted on me until I pointed out that I brought my own bottle of water to work. People spent days trying to figure out who could possibly have thought it was okay to put water in the refrigerator (the culprit remains at large). And today, oh the terror, today someone left a piece of bread in the refrigerator. It was, apparently, inside a plastic bag, minding its own business, not bothering anyone else's lunch, but it was a piece of bread and all alone and therefore an aberration unto the refrigerator and so yet another fuss was raised about who was brazenly adulterating the fridge in such an uncouth way. This time I managed to stay out of the way of the finger-pointing for the most part, until, during the scuffle to remove the offending slice from the fridge, the piece of blue cheese I bought at the farmer's market today was discovered. "What is this?!" came the cry from the kitchen and I knew, I immediately knew. "Ugh, It has mold on it!" I knew I couldn't rush in there and rescue my cheese, because it would make me immediately culpable for all of the other fridge transgressions, past and future. I put my head down and did my best not to laugh. Or cry. You don't ever expect to work in an office where people can't identify blue cheese, but apparently it happens. Then again, my office once again failed the Bechdel Test today; in fact there was so much chatter about guys, rings, and weddings that I think it may have caused other parts of my life to retroactively fail the Bechdel Test. (Not one word was said about work, not one!)
And in the end, after the storm had passed, I had to sneakily fetch my cheese from the trash can and then hide it. Thank goodness it was double-wrapped in plastic. And thank goodness no one saw, because if anyone had seen me go into the trash I would've been responsible not only for the misuse of the fridge, but everything else wrong with the world and everyone who ever looked at them funny.
There's going to be a Dirk Gently TV series! Well, I mean technically right now there's just a pilot, and given the sordid history of adaptations of Douglas Adams' work (::cough::Hitchhiker's Guide TV Show::cough::), my hopes aren't that high, but it does bring a smile to my face. There are times when I actually adore Dirk Gently just a little more than Arthur Dent et al, and that's saying something. It also seems to indicate a general trend (at least for the BBC) toward detective fiction and, in case it's not obvious, I'm all for that.
There's finally going to be a new Sufjan Stevens album, and we only have to wait until October! Not into Sufjan Stevens? Read that ridiculous album write-up, at the least. It's a real piece of work, and it borders on the point where I normally throw up my hands and go "What are you doing? If it requires this much of an explanation maybe you should reconsider..." I'm looking forward to the album, though, because I do like Enjoy Your Rabbit, and so far I've enjoyed Sufjan's attempts to pretend the whole Illinoise thing didn't happen quite the way it did (you go ahead and pretend no one noticed you were brilliant man, I promise I'll at least keep trying not to stand around outside your tour bus so I can give you a hug). Plus, you know, it's been five years since the last album, and I actually do enjoy a good verbose album prospectus.
I love that things like this have been a normal part of my summer. I've been using these alerts to figure out good places to lock my bike so it'll be in a shot somewhere in the movie but, unfortunately, by the time I get into town in the morning the all the production vehicles and road blocks have already been set up and I can't sneak onto the set to install my bike in their scene. If I'd been lazy over one particular weekend in July and left my bike outside work I would've nailed it, but... I can't seem to abandon my bike for that long. Also, before they flee the city I aim to find out what on earth their hot air balloon is for. I'm torn between aerial shots and an artificial sun for night filming. I've gotten a pretty good look at it, and it doesn't really look like a camera could be rigged up to it, so I'm more or less at a loss. I think I'm going to have to ask one of their crew-people. If it's an artificial sun for night filming, though... how cool would that be? (I want an artificial sun...) If only this was a movie I had an actual interest in seeing, though, other than as a way to finally piece together all the disparate things I've seen around town.
Addendum (8/27/10): I checked with one of the guys on the set and the giant balloons are, in fact, artificial suns. Okay they're balloon lights, but close enough. Also, fun fact: First major picture use? Titanic.
Also, just for the amusement factor: At work lately there has been a Great Debate over refrigerator etiquette. We've had our problems in the past with people leaving things in there and forgetting about them (or, more often, people quitting or getting fired and leaving things in the fridge). There have been a few loud afternoons where someone went nuts and threw almost everything out. But lately, lately people have been taking offense to the strangest things. This all started a week or so ago, when someone discovered that someone else had left a cup of water in the fridge. "Who drinks a sip of water and then puts it in the fridge?!" There was a lot of outraged finger-pointing, which even alighted on me until I pointed out that I brought my own bottle of water to work. People spent days trying to figure out who could possibly have thought it was okay to put water in the refrigerator (the culprit remains at large). And today, oh the terror, today someone left a piece of bread in the refrigerator. It was, apparently, inside a plastic bag, minding its own business, not bothering anyone else's lunch, but it was a piece of bread and all alone and therefore an aberration unto the refrigerator and so yet another fuss was raised about who was brazenly adulterating the fridge in such an uncouth way. This time I managed to stay out of the way of the finger-pointing for the most part, until, during the scuffle to remove the offending slice from the fridge, the piece of blue cheese I bought at the farmer's market today was discovered. "What is this?!" came the cry from the kitchen and I knew, I immediately knew. "Ugh, It has mold on it!" I knew I couldn't rush in there and rescue my cheese, because it would make me immediately culpable for all of the other fridge transgressions, past and future. I put my head down and did my best not to laugh. Or cry. You don't ever expect to work in an office where people can't identify blue cheese, but apparently it happens. Then again, my office once again failed the Bechdel Test today; in fact there was so much chatter about guys, rings, and weddings that I think it may have caused other parts of my life to retroactively fail the Bechdel Test. (Not one word was said about work, not one!)
And in the end, after the storm had passed, I had to sneakily fetch my cheese from the trash can and then hide it. Thank goodness it was double-wrapped in plastic. And thank goodness no one saw, because if anyone had seen me go into the trash I would've been responsible not only for the misuse of the fridge, but everything else wrong with the world and everyone who ever looked at them funny.