Trippy Crap

I still haven't read anything lately. I've been too busy with schoolwork, and my exaggerated view of how much of a chore everything is.

I really wanted to see Shutter Island for several months before it came out, but mediocre reviews have tempered my zeal. I have some interest in Alice in Wonderland, but I haven't been crazy about Tim Burton's work lately, and I have the distinct feeling he probably screwed it up (most of the reviews seem to confirm as much).

I have, however, been working on some movies of my own for Multimedia A/V Production class. I made a "slice of life" video last weekend. Since then, I've been working on a music video for the Butthole Surfers' song "Whatever (I Had a Dream)".

Mew Sick

I didn't watch or read anything new this week. I heard some songs that caught my attention, though.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that The Fixer, which I've been hearing a lot lately, is by Pearl Jam. I haven't heard anything from them in a while, and it really doesn't sound like anything of theirs that I've ever heard.

I've been a fan of Tegan and Sara for quite a while, and I like their new song Hell. The video's cool, too.

Weezer was one of my favorite bands of the nineties. I've despised their recent singles, which serve no purpose other than to get them back on the airwaves. Can't Stop Partying is no different, but it's growing on me for some reason.

Finally, Stylo, by the Gorillaz, is just freaking weird, but it's got a nice mix of genres and it's great to chill out to.

Cannibal Holocaust

I read only a few pages of Catch 22 this week. They dealt with the chaplain, and his required attendance at (and subsequent exclusion from) the officer's club. I really don't have much time to read these days, between homework, bowling, friends, not sleeping, and whatever else I tend to do with myself.

Last year, I found a book called That Callahan Spunk! in the juvenile section at the library, which charmed me for obvious reasons. I ordered a copy from eBay. I've yet to read any of it, but I'd like to get started soon.

My most notable cultural consumption this week came in the form of a film called Cannibal Holocaust. The brainchild of Italian filmmaker Ruggero Deodato, "Holocaust" tells the story of four young American filmmakers who enter the South American jungle to make a documentary about a tribe of cannibals. For no apparent reason, they decide to torment the natives upon arrival at their village, attempting to burn them alive before having sex among the charred corpses, while the survivors look on. Other scenes depict rape, genital mutilation, dismemberment, and all varieties of fun for the whole family.

I've never been bothered too much by fake things happening to actors in movies (in this case, I just found most of it pretty stupid). What bothers me is when a director believes that his film, no matter how virtuous (or, in this case, terrible) it may be, justifies the actual death of one or more animals. I was offended by Au Hasard Balthazar, in which Robert Bresson felt that his "masterpiece" of disjointed metaphors was worth the shooting of a donkey. Unfortunately, Deodato seemed infinitely preoccupied with killing as many animals as he could. A pig meets a quick death, being shot by one of the Americans. A monkey, a large turtle, a snake, and a tarantula are all viciously hacked apart with machetes. I don't believe any film could justify that. If it exists, it certainly wasn't this one.

Prolonged Reading Prior and Subsequent to Visitation of Firms

I got up way too early today (7 a.m.), so I could make the bus for the Off-Broadway Tour with AdInk. We toured VML, which was pretty awesome (Gatorade came in for their first meeting as a client just as we were leaving). We had some pizza, and then went to Kuhn & Wittenborn, followed by MMG Worldwide (both awesome).

On the way down, I read roughly a chapter of Catch 22. I've been reading it for several months now, and I've still got about 150 pages to go. I find it troubling that I generally take four to six months to finish a book, even if it isn't particularly long. I went through a phase where I'd read three books at a time, switching back and forth depending on the mood I was in that night. One such trilogy consisted of Siddhartha, The Art of War, and an "unauthorized" biography about radio personality Dr. Laura (don't ask).

Anyway, I figure that if I'm going to take six months to read a book, it might as well be good. I've been trying to catch up on great fiction (classic and otherwise). I read Oil! by Upton Sinclair, which had its moments, but wasn't nearly as good as The Jungle. Fahrenheit 451 was fun. Lolita was probably the most impressive work of fiction I've seen. Soon, I hope to finish 1984 (which I haven't touched in years), and then hopefully tackle some Proust and Kafka.

Poppa Z's

When I was a kid, there was a pizza place named Poppa Z's about a mile from the grade school I went to. They had decent pizza, but more importantly, they had about two dozen arcade games (I'm talking skee ball, mini basketball, Street Fighter, The X-Men, Ninja Turtles, and several other classics, with a couple of lame little kiddie rides to boot). Then you'd get little tickets for playing the games, and trade those in for army men, bouncy balls, candy, and those Styrofoam airplanes that fall apart the second time you throw them. They had better prizes, but I never went often enough to save up for any of them.

Clearly, the business model wasn't anything revolutionary, but we all thought there was something pretty special about Poppa Z's. Everybody wanted a birthday party there. I think I was only able to have one. We didn't always have much money when I was growing up, so most of my parties took place at home.

Poppa Z's became Pop's Pizza Place after I got too old to keep eating there. In high school, a couple of my friends worked there for a while. A few years ago, they shut down. The vacant space was filled by a Pizza Hut and a daycare center, which I find ironic, since Poppa Z's had been, to some extent, a combination of the two businesses. Oh well. Life's pretty silly like that. I only wish I could get my hands on that Ninja Turtles arcade game one more time.

My birthday

Today, I found a song I like. It's "Over the Falls" by Primus.

I didn't sleep again last night.

I really just
want to
finish
my
homework
so I don't ha
ve
to
do it on my
birth.
day.