another note from an npc

well, it’s now been over three weeks without soda, tea, or coffee. to be honest, the only one i’ve missed much two or three times is coffee. it’s the only one of the three i don’t drink regularly (i probably only drink coffee on average once…maybe twice…a week), so i don’t think i’m craving it exactly…it’s more like something i occasionally do and i miss having the opportunity to do it. i think because it usually involves sitting at a coffee house or somewhere, reading or talking or such. i’ve also still managed to stay away from fries or chips so far. i do sometimes find myself wanting a few chips or a few fries, but excepting a few fried onion strings once i’ve avoided anything similar. as i’ve said before, it’s not like i’m eating anything else differently or more healthy — i’m just trying to cut some calories i usually consume for no good reason. (although i am hungrier more often now.)
i’ve watched a few movies, all via netflix streaming:
4 (2005) – this is a modern russian film. it starts off with 3 strangers plus the bartender hanging out and talking in a bar. they basically all lie about what they do for a living, for whatever reason. the pace is pretty slow, but all of the stuff before and including the bar scene was pretty interesting. after they leave the bar, the movie gets rather weird. and really slow. (the movie clocks in at over 2 hours, and the bar scene portion is about the first 30 minutes.) the girl from the bar finds out a sister died, so she treks into the country for the funeral. (i mean like 15+ minutes of trains and her walking through mist and mud.) a lot of stuff is somewhat surreal from that point on, and some of the lies from the bar are perhaps hinted at as actually being true, although nothing is for sure. most of her story involves a bunch of old women crying, yelling, fighting, gorging, getting drunk, yelling, and sewing dolls. i’m not sure i can recommend the movie, although it was…unique. i think part of its point is to show the huge difference between urban and rural russia, as well as modern and “old” russia, in modern times, but there’s more than that.
the battleship potemkin (1925) – this is a classic silent black and white russian film by eisenstein. it tells the story of some of the beginnings of the bolshevik revolution, starting with mutiny on a military ship and including the resulting anger and then crackdown in odessa. (not Texas 🙂 it’s definitely has a pro-soviet propaganda slant, but it’s interesting historically.
the king of kong: a fistful of quarters (2007) – a story about drama around the world record score for the stand-up arcade game donkey kong. steve wiebe got laid off and decided to try and beat the 20+ year old donkey kong record set by billy mitchell in 1982. no one had ever gotten close. he did it, but drama ensued. this documentary delves into the world record score arcade scene and culture, the players, the fighting, etc. this is a really cool film! i highly recommend it.
man, woman and the wall (2007) – this is a japanese film about a magazine reporter who moves into an apartment building with thin walls, and he can hear the hot girl in the apartment next door. he gets kind of creepy about learning things about her and finding ways to listen to her better and fantasizing about her, but her current actual boyfriend is really screwed up. i think this is sort of a male fantasy movie where the sort of creepy infatuated guy defeats an even creepier perverted guy and gets the hot chick. but the movie was okay for what it was. 🙂
october – ten days that shook the world (1927) – this is another classic russian black and white silent film by eisenstein. this was sanctioned to commemorate the 10 year anniversary of the bolshevik revolution (1917). like …potemkin it’s pretty heavy-handed propaganda. the peasants and bolsheviks all portrayed as great, friendly, people of character, all others (provincial government, tsar system, etc.) are grotesque, odd, laughable and/or evil. plus it embellishes the gravity of the events leading up to and during the october revolution. but the general history is accurate, and it was filmed in actual locations just ten years after the events, so it’s got some pretty impressive visual historical value. plus eisenstein was ahead of his time as far as directing/editing.
saturday afternoon i went by sears and picked up a new washing machine raj bought online. i brought it home and got it all hooked up and such. so on sunday i was finally ale to do some much-needed laundry.
i recently finished the best short stories of dostoevsky, which included “notes from the underground”. i think i might need some notes from a scholar to better understand some aspects of that story. i did enjoy “a gentle creature”, “white nights”, and “the honest thief” though.
the shop called me and my belair is ready to be picked up. hopefully it’ll actually be fixed. this month i’ll also finish paying off the credit card i used to get the engine and other stuff (thus resulting in a 0% interest loan, except for the one automated payment glitch which cost me a late payment fee). and i should be close to done paying myself back for the money i borrowed from my ranch account. which will leave the harley as my only debt.
i’ve gotten a few things from ebay and amazon, but i’ll detail all that once most or all of it arrives.