the duh-parted...

first. i confess: i really, really dug the original movie. stylish, imaginative and if you didn't pay attention you'd be one seriously confused marthafarker. not to mention following the subtitles. and, yes, i give a hong kong movie waaay more latitude than i'd give a hollywood one. but hell. marty, how low can you sink?

from the 'pay attention or you'll lose the plot' speed and complexity of the original we move to the 'did you get that? no? well here it is again a little louder' of the duh-parted. viz: if endless meaningful closeups of "the envelope" weren't enough for the brain dead target viewer, how about a huge close-up of the sms message: follow the envelope! strewth. is this the intelligence level hollywood movies are being aimed at now. in a scorcese movie (as opposed to, say, rocky balboa)? how depressing. funny thing though, i got confused between mark wahlberg and matt damon!

the only good thing about this movie winning the oscar for best picture is that it shows just how low hollywood's creative fuel level has sunk: its best picture of the year is a remake of a hong kong movie (with all the american contempt that label used to carry)?

and what a message to martin scorcese from his hollywood peers: taxi driver, raging bull...nah, sorry. the departed? hey, woohoo, best director, best movie!

run marty, run...

mre
x

oh, what a surprise...

there i was, drifting silently down the river alone in my kayak one beautifully clear friday evening in january, staring at the sliver of moon that was sinking in the darkening sky, when i noticed a bright star right next to it. ok, its venus. nothing new, but so beautifully well poised next to the moon. funny thing was, as i came round a bend in the river a little further on venus had disappeared! weird. never seen that before. but even weirder, as the sky got darker i noticed a smear of light to the left. kinda like a night club searchlight. no night clubs out here though! as it got darker still...wow – it's a comet!

unbelievable. awesome. being (intentionally) out of reach of media and television i had no idea there was even one doing the rounds. but what was really amazing was how big and clear it was – the tail curved far upward into the sky. totally unlike the "is it or isn't it" blurry glimpses of the renowned halley's comet through shaky binoculars. now this is really how i expected a comet to look!

and no-one else was out to see it. they were all inside watching tv...

mre
x

ps. later i found out that the unexplained disappearance of venus was an "occultation" of the planet by the moon. plus a comet in the sky at the same time...what are the odds on that?

break...

waiting till most had done the end of year holiday thing and gone back home, i took a nice late january three week break down at the seaside. did an "internal waters" skipper course, some emergency plumbing and refurbishing and a whole lotta chillin'.

hows the serenity...

mre
x