Status Updates for 2010-02-23
Tweets, status — Stephen on 23 February 2010 @ 11:30 PM — 0 comments
- I heart wordpress #
Status Updates for 2010-02-22
Tweets, status — Stephen on 22 February 2010 @ 11:30 PM — 0 comments
- today has been a very hectic, but very amazing day in a ton of ways. #
Status Updates for 2010-02-21
Tweets, status — Stephen on 21 February 2010 @ 11:30 PM — 0 comments
- these people's genes are self-selecting for extinction: http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/the-cinnamon-challenge #
Status Updates for 2010-02-20
Tweets, status — Stephen on 20 February 2010 @ 11:30 PM — 0 comments
- I knew it! http://bit.ly/c2swFt #
Status Updates for 2010-02-19
Tweets, status — Stephen on 19 February 2010 @ 11:30 PM — 0 comments
- I have a cold :( #
A total downer of pure genius
Satori, film, movie reviews — Stephen on 19 February 2010 @ 3:24 PM — 1 comment
I was developing a bit of a cold and didn’t feel like going out, so I rented and watched the movie “Synecdoche, New York” last night. It is both one of the most incredible and saddest films I have ever seen. The film follows the life of the main character of theater director Caden (played to perfection by Philip Seymour Hoffman), who after winning a MacArthur grant, begins work on his magnum opus. It also details his loves and inevitable losses and essential loneliness in the face of other people. The film skips through time and one is never sure if the events are happening in the past or present or in some dystopian dreamworld. His masterpiece is essentially a recreation of the minutiae and scenes of his own life, and throughout the film he spends many many years on it as it becomes more and more unwieldy and self referential. In addition, he keeps seeing parts of his body break down with multiple trips to various doctors. This film is a meditation on the inevitability of death and the futility of holding on to things and people too tightly. There are many scenes pregnant with dark humour and metaphor, and the film could (and probably should) be watched multiple times, trying to integrate all of the chaos. There was something heart-achingly true and precise about the film, and I would be lying if I said it was uplifting in any way. But through this deep sadness is a sort of cautionary tale about our own ego and illusion of control. We are far better off to let go a little and enjoy the ride without always needing to steer.
Status Updates for 2010-02-18
Tweets, status — Stephen on 18 February 2010 @ 11:30 PM — 0 comments
Status Updates for 2010-02-17
Tweets, status — Stephen on 17 February 2010 @ 11:30 PM — 0 comments
- it occurs to me I can't remember the last time I called 411. It was that long ago. #
Noncommittal fortune
Satori, fortunes, meaning — Stephen on 17 February 2010 @ 11:18 PM — 0 comments
I love fortune cookies, but I admit to having some fairly specific ideas about what constitutes a good one vs a bad one. The best fortune cookies, in my opinion, are the ones that tell you something specific that is about to happen to you. Something like “You will win a million dollars next tuesday” is an example of a good fortune cookie. Even something less specific, such as “A great day lies ahead for you” is within the range of what I consider a correct use of the form. On the other hand, I loathe fortune cookies that lack fortunes, as this is clearly a letdown and an affront to the definition of fortune. When (after enduring an entire meal of greasy take out) I open a cookie only to read “A rolling stone gathers no moss” or “A wise man thinks before he speaks”, I get a little bent out of shape. What kind of crap is that? Imagine my surprise when I received a kind of hybrid message in my fortune cookie this evening.
It read: “You should be able to undertake and complete anything.”
Come again? What is that supposed to mean? I mean, it has the advantage of addressing me directly, which is a good thing…but what is this “should” business? If it had said “You can undertake and complete anything” it would be a dull but expected compliment I guess, arriving in this way from a fortune cookie. But “should”? That throws a whole air of uncertainty into the mix. Is this a challenge? An insult to my current situation or some sort of rebuke? I scour my brain for all the things I have undertaken and left hanging, as well as for those things I thought about and didn’t undertake in the first place. And the nerve of those taunting smiley faces at both ends and those “lucky” numbers along the bottom…
Status Updates for 2010-02-15
Tweets, status — Stephen on 15 February 2010 @ 11:30 PM — 0 comments
- what would happen if I just didn't read the news for a week? (I suppose my stress level would go down quite a bit. Let's try it.) #