It really hasn't felt like a week has gone by. I was in Katherines a week ago, on duty. It was the only night I left duty early, after being awoken at 3:30AM by a tickling sensation on my leg, jumping from the bed, turning the lights on, and watching a 2-inch cockroach emerge from the cushions on the couch from which I had been sleeping on moments before. To think it probably crawled on my leg sent me the hell out of Katherines for the night, ecstatic that I would never have to return to that room on the far east end on the first floor.
I came home on Wednesday night for a week of R&R before training starts next Saturday. I have to move out of my heavenly townhouse on Thursday and Friday and go back to Jerome basement. So far the vacation has been pretty good. I saw Signs last night with a couple friends in a private screening. I thought it was a very good movie: Shyamalan is one of those directors who creates these movies that I call "perfect;" perfect not in that it is a work of genius, but perfect that each part of the movie works to create this overall "complete" vision - everything fits exactly as it should; a perfect world, captured in celluloid frame.
"The Sixth Sense" was perfect in that everything worked for the twist at the end: repeat viewings confirm that each scene works without giving any of the ending away too quickly, yet the proof is all there. "Unbreakable" was perfect in that the unifying construct was the creation of a perfect comic book good vs. evil scenario for characters to emerge and show their true colors. "Perfect" movies are usually more about characters than story; the sparseness of a story gives talented actors the chance to flesh out their roles and just kind of enjoy and live in the perfect environment thats been created.
"Signs" is perfect because, while probably genred as a "thriller," the major construct of the movie remains faith. Every piece of dialogue, every plot point and every character reflects and explores that construct. It works as a perfect thriller too; Shyamalan, like a good director should, knows excatly how much to show in order to make something scary without overdoing it. "Jaws" was scary not for blood and gore, but for the fear of the unknown: Shyamalan does the same thing as Spielberg allowing the audience to project their own emotions and selves into the film, creating a fear that is more real that that created by a detached latex hand gushing red blood over everything in sight.
See "Signs" but be ready for a different movie than expected: not worse, but different.
Lets see...what else...I've mainly sat around at home doing nothing since getting here. I plan on catching up on the movies I missed "Austin Powers," "Road to Perdition," "MIB:II"...etc.
Friday I had a meeting with the Dean of Students concerning possible employment for the fall. It looks like something will happen, doing something I'd love: computer consulting for the Division of Student Affairs. He seemed genuinely impressed by the work that I'd put in over the summer in Health Services. I remember complaining about being transferred from Administrative Services in the beginning of the summer, yet it seems it's been a great opportunity. Like so many things in my life that have seemed bleak to start with (move #1, move #2, etc) it has turned out incredibly.
Thats all I have for now. The title today comes from a quote that I read that I've always enjoyed; I found it on the cover of the Living section of the Baltimore Sun during my freshman year of high school in a sidebar entitled, "Why Write?" It was a review of a book that talked to great writers about writing. My favorite quotation came from Elie Wiesel, a Jewish novelist whose experience in the Holocaust created the desire and need in him to write. The full quotation goes like this: "Why do I write? Perhaps in order not to go mad. Or, on the contrary, to touch the bottom of madness ... I knew the story had to be told. Not to transmit an experience is to betray it"
Currently listening to: Bruce Springsteen, The Rising...Incredible.
Posted by Matthew at August 3, 2002 01:25 AMWhat does the quote mean?
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