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May 2nd, 2006
 | 11:53 pm - "What is essential? What is wanted?"
So today at work I had this funny entry all figured out, and it was going to be something special because it was going to be my first use of mouseover scripting. What? You don't know what that is? Doesn't matter. livejournal won't let you use javascript in entries, and I didn't know that until I was testing it. It'll show up on my website sooner or later. Been awhile since I've posted anything spectacular there, anyway.
Oh, speaking of things spectacular which are on my website: while you're waiting, check out the MP3 of the Month. More video game music. This one's called The Path of Least Resistance.
Anyway,  agaysexicon, fuzzyinthehead and I watched Primer this evening. I've been waffling as to whether they'd like it, and I'm quite pleased that they did. Did they understand it? Oh, hell no. It's a sci-fi/drama for (and about) the kind of people who actually read science magazines, as opposed to decorating coffee tables with them like the rest of us. Primer is about time travel, causality, and paradox, and once the fractures of the fractured timeline begin to fracture further, the plot becomes seriously confusing. It was also made on a $7,000 budget, and while it never looks cheap, it doesn't have the sort of high-value production people tend to expect from modern sci-fi. I'm terrified of how most of my friends would react to it because it has less in common with The Matrix than it does with My Dinner with Andre.
I've always (half) joked that I should put together a diagram to figure out the plot, but as it turns out, somebody else beat me to it. Having glanced over it, I think that Primer might be the most tightly-wrapped puzzle movie I've ever seen, mostly by virtue of being about time travel. A few viewings have been enough for me to (basically) understand what's going on without worrying too much over the intricacies of the timeline and its permutations, but whomever put together the diagram, must have slaved over the movie: watched it several times, taken notes, correlated the notes, diagrammed, made inferences, re-diagrammed, made more inferences... all in his spare time. Please shoot me if I ever become this concerned about a movie, (Lynch and Bergman films excepted).
It's insane. No wonder it's so difficult to decipher. Those who are curious -- and trust me, a cursory glance can't possibly ruin the movie for you -- should check out the diagram.
Current Mood:  sleepy
Current Music: The Path of Least Resistance
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NOW that movie makes sense. I did really like it. I think it'd be funny to watch people who are high watch that movie. I think I did this once with the Back to the Future films. It wasn't all that difficult to keep track until one takes the whole 1885 thing into account.
I think what first got me going down that track was something in a magazine (Star-something? Stargazer? I forget) about the (then) upcoming two films. I realized that the version of himself Marty sees traveling back in time from the "Lone Pine Mall" can't possibly be him, but rather that timeline's native version of him (and who knows WHAT he actually does to the past).
And here I go again. Ignore that man behind the curtain! He's not nearly as nerdy as he's just outed himself to be!
I'll have to check this out. Is this something I could find at a video store, or will I have to go through "interesting" measure to procure it?
~Sean Not sure. My dad managed to find it at Movie Gallery in Stoughton, which suggests to me that it wouldn't be too hard to find. If nothing else, I own a copy. It sounds like I would appreciate this Primer. I will have to check it out. What are you cats doing weekend after next? (or even the weekend after that?)
~Sean I'm very hesitant to actively recommed Primer to anybody, but I'm certainly up for shairng it, since I own a copy. I think we oughta take Sean up on his offer to do stuff, work a viewing of Primer into the stuff we're gonna do. That movie sounds cool, just enough to give me a headache and make me rethink my entire exsistence. I'm in but let me know time/place/whatever. Oh yes, and your new song is fantastic. Structurally it's very much like a couple of Men at Work songs I've been listening to a lot lately (although more "Still Life" than "Hard Luck Story"), and I'm just talking about patterns of repetition and choice of chord use, not necessarily the melody or rhythms themselves. Anything that deviates from the norm gets my immediate attention, and anything that is good besides will endear me to it forever. Kudos!
~Sean Thank you! I am completely unfamiliar with the Men at Work songs you mentioned, but I'll check them out. Much as I appreciate your feedback (and I do), I really wish I'd hear from more people. It's not like this kind of music has ever been popular, so I don't really know whether it has any merit. I'll be fine if composition never winds up being more than a hobby, but I feel like I'm working in a vacuum. A vacuum with cable TV where I'm getting all kinds of input but none of it is personal or interactive. |
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