Happy birthday, Marisa!
Today, area editor slash model is 25, which means her modeling career is nearly over. Hopefully she can keep the editing thing going for another few years.
In honor of her birthday, we partied last night with Amanda, Craig, Katie, Sara B., Cossar, Bayard, Nick, Jen, Mickey & Dael, and Bikram & his lady friend (also named Sara?) being good enough to come out to my apartment, conveniently located in the middle of nowhere. Both of my teams for the Celebrity Game lost, but I think we won some pretty decisive moral victories. Also, Bono = Yanni and vice versa. Foodwise, I will live off of the spoils of this party for the rest of the week.
I start school tomorrow. Eep. It's been almost four years since I've been in a real classroom! Naturally, I am preparing by wondering what to buy if my tuition reimbursement comes through at the end of the semester.
I'm in a tight spot with my technology. Pretty much every major electronic device I own is crummy in some way. My TV-VCR has been a faithful buddy since freshman year, but its coax receiver has broken off for probably the last time, and the picture isn't as sharp as it once was; it's only because of these defects that my cheap DVD player is acceptable (it works fine, but if I got a better TV, I'd probably notice more flaws). My computer is running Windows 98 and rocking an eight-gig hard drive, which is OK for my simple purposes (email, web, word processing), but using it will not get any easier. My stereo is crap. I got one from JBL in 2001 because (a.) it was cheaper than some equivalent models (b.) Aiwas were hard to find (c.) I read that JBL were really good on sound. Which is true; the speakers are great. However, the actual CD player stopped working sometime in 2003. A lot of space in my room is taken up by stuff that only kinda works and my three-year-old discman is better than the whole lot of them.
So I don't know which to tackle first. None are really urgent, because the bottom line is, I can watch TV, I can listen to CD's, I can check my email. We're not talking about needing a kidney or anything. But I'd like to eventually replace this stuff. Who goes first on the queue?
TV/VCR/DVD
Pros: Could replace slowly, depending on needs (waiting on either the TV or DVD player); I could put a new TV in the living room (my roommate has a spare to which we've hooked up the cable and DVR, but there's no room for anything else)
Cons: Not knowing the right combination: how badly do I still need a VCR, how big a TV do I need, etc.; buying a TV seems silly when I currently use two different working sets
Computer
Pros: Even with a limited scope, I use my computer more than my TV or stereo; old TV's or stereos don't start playing everything slower as they age; wouldn't have to load my ipod at work
Cons: The most expensive replacement by far; the vast superiority of a new computer might well blow my mind and leave me catatonic and/or never leaving the apartment
Stereo
Pros: The most immediately broken of the three; probably the cheapest to replace in total; now know to stay away from JBL
Cons: Don't entirely trust Sony and Aiwa website is weird (though I'm glad they're still around); I listen to more music in transit than at home; seems like wanting both an aux-input and a dual cassette deck adds an extra $50 or so to the price
Oh, and on Friday, Marisa and I went to see the new Steven Soderbergh joint, Bubble. It's a short, digital-shot slice-of-life-ish thing that uses non-actors to give us a glimpse into the fairly low-key misery in which some doll factory workers live (though it's not quite as depressing as that sounds). I love Soderbergh because he's productive and experimental without being boring (Erin Brockovich excepted, which would not overcome the Julia Roberts factor... and OK, Ocean's 12 should've been so much better, but it has many good parts). Bubble is not great but it is interesting, with the non-actors actually giving pretty strong performances (and improvising a lot very natural-sounding dialogue, which isn't as easy as it sounds). It has a vibe. It's interesting. It's the kind of thing Soderbergh can get away with because he's intelligent and makes movies almost as often as Woody Allen.
Despite a couple of raves from Ebert and EW, the real press on Bubble has to do with its release strategy: it is coming out in theaters, on a semi-obscure digital cable channel, and on DVD, more or less simultaneously. Theater owners are pissed because they think it's a slap in the face to theatrical exhibition, which is already under fire for being inferior to DVD and basically on its way out. Soderbergh claims it's just about choice of platform. Most of you know where I stand on theatrical versus DVD, and even though -- actually because -- Bubble is a small-scale film, I was happy that I forked over ten bucks to see it on the big screen. I doubt Bubble's vibe and small gestures would translate as well to watching at home, because it would be easy, sitting in your living room or bedroom, to become distracted. Like Gus Van Sant's recent movies, the theatrical experience provides a more immersive effect, even though you're not watching a film of great spectacle -- but rather, in fact, a movie where very little happens in terms of traditional action.
However, in the theatrical experience, it was very telling that there was some kind of sound-sync problem where the dialogue and mouth movements weren't matching up for the first half or so of the movie (and Marisa told ushers about it much sooner than this; that it was eventually fixed is, sadly, a victory unto itself). Here I was, thinking about how this tiny, starless, effects-devoid movie still does well by the old-fashioned presentation, while the exhibitors did their best to screw it up. I wish I could address theater owners, man. I'd even lay off the vitriol and condescension and say, look, guys, you have a chance here, and you're blowing it.
In honor of her birthday, we partied last night with Amanda, Craig, Katie, Sara B., Cossar, Bayard, Nick, Jen, Mickey & Dael, and Bikram & his lady friend (also named Sara?) being good enough to come out to my apartment, conveniently located in the middle of nowhere. Both of my teams for the Celebrity Game lost, but I think we won some pretty decisive moral victories. Also, Bono = Yanni and vice versa. Foodwise, I will live off of the spoils of this party for the rest of the week.
I start school tomorrow. Eep. It's been almost four years since I've been in a real classroom! Naturally, I am preparing by wondering what to buy if my tuition reimbursement comes through at the end of the semester.
I'm in a tight spot with my technology. Pretty much every major electronic device I own is crummy in some way. My TV-VCR has been a faithful buddy since freshman year, but its coax receiver has broken off for probably the last time, and the picture isn't as sharp as it once was; it's only because of these defects that my cheap DVD player is acceptable (it works fine, but if I got a better TV, I'd probably notice more flaws). My computer is running Windows 98 and rocking an eight-gig hard drive, which is OK for my simple purposes (email, web, word processing), but using it will not get any easier. My stereo is crap. I got one from JBL in 2001 because (a.) it was cheaper than some equivalent models (b.) Aiwas were hard to find (c.) I read that JBL were really good on sound. Which is true; the speakers are great. However, the actual CD player stopped working sometime in 2003. A lot of space in my room is taken up by stuff that only kinda works and my three-year-old discman is better than the whole lot of them.
So I don't know which to tackle first. None are really urgent, because the bottom line is, I can watch TV, I can listen to CD's, I can check my email. We're not talking about needing a kidney or anything. But I'd like to eventually replace this stuff. Who goes first on the queue?
TV/VCR/DVD
Pros: Could replace slowly, depending on needs (waiting on either the TV or DVD player); I could put a new TV in the living room (my roommate has a spare to which we've hooked up the cable and DVR, but there's no room for anything else)
Cons: Not knowing the right combination: how badly do I still need a VCR, how big a TV do I need, etc.; buying a TV seems silly when I currently use two different working sets
Computer
Pros: Even with a limited scope, I use my computer more than my TV or stereo; old TV's or stereos don't start playing everything slower as they age; wouldn't have to load my ipod at work
Cons: The most expensive replacement by far; the vast superiority of a new computer might well blow my mind and leave me catatonic and/or never leaving the apartment
Stereo
Pros: The most immediately broken of the three; probably the cheapest to replace in total; now know to stay away from JBL
Cons: Don't entirely trust Sony and Aiwa website is weird (though I'm glad they're still around); I listen to more music in transit than at home; seems like wanting both an aux-input and a dual cassette deck adds an extra $50 or so to the price
Oh, and on Friday, Marisa and I went to see the new Steven Soderbergh joint, Bubble. It's a short, digital-shot slice-of-life-ish thing that uses non-actors to give us a glimpse into the fairly low-key misery in which some doll factory workers live (though it's not quite as depressing as that sounds). I love Soderbergh because he's productive and experimental without being boring (Erin Brockovich excepted, which would not overcome the Julia Roberts factor... and OK, Ocean's 12 should've been so much better, but it has many good parts). Bubble is not great but it is interesting, with the non-actors actually giving pretty strong performances (and improvising a lot very natural-sounding dialogue, which isn't as easy as it sounds). It has a vibe. It's interesting. It's the kind of thing Soderbergh can get away with because he's intelligent and makes movies almost as often as Woody Allen.
Despite a couple of raves from Ebert and EW, the real press on Bubble has to do with its release strategy: it is coming out in theaters, on a semi-obscure digital cable channel, and on DVD, more or less simultaneously. Theater owners are pissed because they think it's a slap in the face to theatrical exhibition, which is already under fire for being inferior to DVD and basically on its way out. Soderbergh claims it's just about choice of platform. Most of you know where I stand on theatrical versus DVD, and even though -- actually because -- Bubble is a small-scale film, I was happy that I forked over ten bucks to see it on the big screen. I doubt Bubble's vibe and small gestures would translate as well to watching at home, because it would be easy, sitting in your living room or bedroom, to become distracted. Like Gus Van Sant's recent movies, the theatrical experience provides a more immersive effect, even though you're not watching a film of great spectacle -- but rather, in fact, a movie where very little happens in terms of traditional action.
However, in the theatrical experience, it was very telling that there was some kind of sound-sync problem where the dialogue and mouth movements weren't matching up for the first half or so of the movie (and Marisa told ushers about it much sooner than this; that it was eventually fixed is, sadly, a victory unto itself). Here I was, thinking about how this tiny, starless, effects-devoid movie still does well by the old-fashioned presentation, while the exhibitors did their best to screw it up. I wish I could address theater owners, man. I'd even lay off the vitriol and condescension and say, look, guys, you have a chance here, and you're blowing it.