Failure to Communicate
Well, I've hit another wall. The last
time was almost four weeks ago, so maybe it's a
cyclical/lunar/male PMS thing. Perhaps it has
something to do with the fact that I slept in
today, my first day off in almost two weeks, burned
out after a very long work week. Whatever the
cause, I've found myself wholly uninspired, with
nothing to write about.
So, as I learned last time, the only way through
this wall is to plow right through it. You might
have to feel my pain with me, in the form of banal,
lackluster writing. But that's the price you pay
for being a loyal reader. You experience the highs,
you deal with the lows.
In what spare time I've had in the past few
weeks, I've tried to catch up on my movie-watching.
I recently signed up for Netflix,
which allows me to rent as many movies as I can
watch for one monthly fee ($20). Though the DVDs
come by mail, the service is extremely prompt, with
most movies arriving two days after ordering them.
You create a list of movies you want on their Web
site, and they automatically send out the next one
on your list when you return a movie. (I should be
their pitch-man.)
Though I am a film school graduate, there have
been some conspicuous holes in my movie-watching
history that I've endeavored to fill up. Most
notably, I had not seen "The Godfather" or "Cool
Hand Luke" until recently. Also on the list are "On
the Waterfront," "A Streetcar Named Desire" and
"Field of Dreams." Another gaping hole is "Gone
With the Wind," though I haven't yet added that to
the list. Five hours just seems like too long for
any movie, no matter how good it is.
Of the Netflix movies I've seen so far, "Cool
Hand Luke" moved me the most. Beautifully shot by
the recently deceased Conrad Hall, with a fantastic
performance by Paul Newman, the film left me
thinking for a long time after the credits rolled.
I won't ruin the movie for those who haven't seen
it by discussing the subtext, but I'll just say
that the film seemed inspired by a "higher power."
I love a good allegory, boss.
And what better movie to talk about on a day
when I'm experiencing a "failure to
communicate"?
Development note: I've
noticed that this site doesn't look like it should
in Netscape Navigator. Rather than waste time
jury-rigging it to look right in a
soon-to-be-obsolete browser, I'll just add the
cliché "This site best viewed with Internet
Explorer."
©2003 Michael
Strickland ALL RIGHTS
RESERVED
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