Everybody leaves and I'd expect as much from you
(I wrote most of this last night then went to bed rather than finish it.)
I was awake for both 2AMs last night, so I really don't feel like I gained an extra hour. Instead it's half 11 and it feels like I should've been in bed an hour ago. I feel like I've really had to work a lot harder recently. It's not just technician shifts where everything is new and scary and I'm loaded with all this responisbility. That's fine. I mean, it's terrifying and right now I'm asking why I ever wanted this, but at the same time it's a job I'm actually proud to have and every shift downstairs feels like a waste of my time. No, the difference now is that on the downstairs shifts I feel like I have to prove I was worth projection. I have to work harder than everyone else. I think it's only me judging me, but I don't like me that much so I can be pretty mean.
There were complaints a while back about the music that gets played in the corridors at the cinema. It's controlled by the projectionists and it's supposed to be all film soundtracks and stuff, but of course that means the soundtracks the projectionists like. Royal Tenenbaums and Garden State get a lot of play. I am fine with this; I like these tracks. Apparently it's too dreary and depressing. So a list went up and everyone got to choose one song to put on new CDs that would be made and after two months of this list sitting on the wall I decided to take the list and actually get it done. I finished the discs at two o'clock this morning (the second one) and when I started today I discovered that oh wait actually they don't run in the player we use. I am not wearing my happy face right now.
But I don't think I want to talk about my job anymore this post. Let's talk about awesome things instead. I'll segue into it by talking about awesome films.
Up, obviously, but others as well: I am a big fan of Wes Anderson's work; The Royal Tenenbaums is one of my favourite films. I am big fan of Roald Dahl. I grew up with his books. When it was announced that Wes Anderson was going to direct Fantastic Mr. Fox I wore my happy face for like a whole day. Wednesday night I got to see this film, in one of those projectionist only private showings that are the perkiest of job perks. Up is going to win Best Animated Feature at the Oscars, I'm sure, but Fantastic Mr. Fox is easily second place. Jason Schwartzman's character, Ash, was the star of the show for me and it's a shame that, being animated, he won't even get a Best Supporting Actor nod.
In about two weeks Bioware are going to release their newest franchise, in the form of Dragon Age: Origins. I think I might be more excited about this than I am about Diablo III. I am certainly more excited than over StarCraft II. I think Bioware games are not for everyone, I can understand the complaints and I have some issues with them myself, but I also think they're the best games out there. I'm playing Mass Effect through for the second time and although all the missions are the same and the side quests drag even more than last time, I'm making different moral choices which barely affect gameplay but the feel is so different. It's happened quite a few times now but each time Shepard shoots someone as the result of a dialogue option I've chosen it's a surprise. There's six companion characters you can choose to acompany you on missions. They've all got well written personalities and backstory and as part of the storyline, two of them are now dead because of me. I wasn't expecting the choices I had to make the first time through, and just by going for Renegade rather than Paragon this time, I've had a new set of choices. Basically what I'm getting at is that even if the gameplay is nothing groundbreaking, Mass Effect has the best storyline of any game I've played, and if Pixar can top Wall-E against all odds with Up, Bioware can do the same with Mass Effect and Dragon Age: Origins.
I was awake for both 2AMs last night, so I really don't feel like I gained an extra hour. Instead it's half 11 and it feels like I should've been in bed an hour ago. I feel like I've really had to work a lot harder recently. It's not just technician shifts where everything is new and scary and I'm loaded with all this responisbility. That's fine. I mean, it's terrifying and right now I'm asking why I ever wanted this, but at the same time it's a job I'm actually proud to have and every shift downstairs feels like a waste of my time. No, the difference now is that on the downstairs shifts I feel like I have to prove I was worth projection. I have to work harder than everyone else. I think it's only me judging me, but I don't like me that much so I can be pretty mean.
There were complaints a while back about the music that gets played in the corridors at the cinema. It's controlled by the projectionists and it's supposed to be all film soundtracks and stuff, but of course that means the soundtracks the projectionists like. Royal Tenenbaums and Garden State get a lot of play. I am fine with this; I like these tracks. Apparently it's too dreary and depressing. So a list went up and everyone got to choose one song to put on new CDs that would be made and after two months of this list sitting on the wall I decided to take the list and actually get it done. I finished the discs at two o'clock this morning (the second one) and when I started today I discovered that oh wait actually they don't run in the player we use. I am not wearing my happy face right now.
But I don't think I want to talk about my job anymore this post. Let's talk about awesome things instead. I'll segue into it by talking about awesome films.
Up, obviously, but others as well: I am a big fan of Wes Anderson's work; The Royal Tenenbaums is one of my favourite films. I am big fan of Roald Dahl. I grew up with his books. When it was announced that Wes Anderson was going to direct Fantastic Mr. Fox I wore my happy face for like a whole day. Wednesday night I got to see this film, in one of those projectionist only private showings that are the perkiest of job perks. Up is going to win Best Animated Feature at the Oscars, I'm sure, but Fantastic Mr. Fox is easily second place. Jason Schwartzman's character, Ash, was the star of the show for me and it's a shame that, being animated, he won't even get a Best Supporting Actor nod.
In about two weeks Bioware are going to release their newest franchise, in the form of Dragon Age: Origins. I think I might be more excited about this than I am about Diablo III. I am certainly more excited than over StarCraft II. I think Bioware games are not for everyone, I can understand the complaints and I have some issues with them myself, but I also think they're the best games out there. I'm playing Mass Effect through for the second time and although all the missions are the same and the side quests drag even more than last time, I'm making different moral choices which barely affect gameplay but the feel is so different. It's happened quite a few times now but each time Shepard shoots someone as the result of a dialogue option I've chosen it's a surprise. There's six companion characters you can choose to acompany you on missions. They've all got well written personalities and backstory and as part of the storyline, two of them are now dead because of me. I wasn't expecting the choices I had to make the first time through, and just by going for Renegade rather than Paragon this time, I've had a new set of choices. Basically what I'm getting at is that even if the gameplay is nothing groundbreaking, Mass Effect has the best storyline of any game I've played, and if Pixar can top Wall-E against all odds with Up, Bioware can do the same with Mass Effect and Dragon Age: Origins.