Wednesday, April 04, 2007

Random thoughts brought on by pop culture

I get to drive to and from work every day down the Great Highway. Gorgeous. Tonight I was coming home a bit later than usual b/c I had stopped to buy groceries and the sun was setting over the ocean and the sky was all pink and orange, waves crashing on the rocks, etc. I live in the best place on the planet. As I was watching the ocean this morning I was thinking about a book I just read - The Life of Pi by Yann Martel. I recommend - an excellent read, beautifully written. It's about a boy who grew up in India where his family ran the local zoo and his own spiritual journey and his life amongst the animals. When Pi is a teenager his family decides to move to Toronto and they board a ship with their animals, who will be taken to other zoos in North America. Along the way, the ship sinks and Pi is stranded on a lifeboat with a bengal tiger. The majority of the book chronicles his time at sea as he struggles to survive until he is rescued. What I was thinking about this morning was the corrosive effect of the ocean - it's beautiful to watch, but if you're not designed to live in it, it can severely damage and even kill you.

I watched The Prestige the other night. Excellent flick. I had that and The Illusionist at the same time - last year's magician movies. I am told that The Illusionist is better, so I saved it for later. I have to say, though, that I did enjoy the Prestige. Obsessive vengeance is an interesting and blinding thing. I can't imagine spending my whole life trying to see to the downfall of another person. Seems like such a waste.

Tomorrow morning I have a meeting at The Mother Ship aka Corporate Behemoth Headquarters downtown. Such an interesting world, this corporate thing. The sheer volume of acronyms boggles the mind. The bureaucracy is mind-blowing.

Here's something else I'm watching right now, and I can't figure out why. SoapNet is re-running Another World from 1991. I started watching Another World in 1984 during the summer and was hooked. Of course, I wasn't allowed to watch soap operas, but that never stopped me. I was so excited when I discovered the re-runs and I've been watching it ever day for weeks now, and I have to say, it's awful. The sets are so janky, the acting is wooden (except for Anne Heche, of course) and plots are thin as tissue paper. I really like the cheesy synth music behind the crazy people - just to let us know how creepy they are. Hilarious. It's just nostalgic and funny. I love it.

1 comment:

Nick Larson said...

Actually I liked the Prestige better. Julia and I just watched the Illusionist and it's really good too. But I still give the tilt to the Prestige. I actually think they are very different stories. The Prestige is all about deception/reality and devotion to an art while the Illusionist is more of a love story and psychological scheming.

Anyways, I recommend both, but I'm going to buy the Prestige.