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Powerless (Reprise)
Apparently, sometime this morning the power went out for a major chunk of the southern part of Bellingham. Apologies to those who were trying to check out this web site and got no response from my server. I had an interesting time taking a shower in the dark. All the more frustrating, when I walked to work, the power was working across the street. Was tempted to run across a big extension cord, but I was going to work anyway, and the electricity wasn't really out for that long.
I commented to a coworker: "You know you're a geek when the main problem you have with the power being out is that your server is down and you have no internet access."
The weekend was a blast. On Saturday, Mr Wiggins and I met up with the parental Jameses and went Go-Kart racing. Wheeee! I have a picture, but right now it's being stored on a Compact Flash card, so I will upload it later today. Then we stayed the night in Concrete and watched Vanilla Sky. It was an interesting flick that wasn't quite as good as it could have been. I think Penelope Cruz looks like a bird. I'm going to write a fuller review further on in this post, so if you're curious about that, skip past the rest of the mindless drivel.
Sunday was kind of a boring day, except for a very pleasant breakfast provided by the folks. For some inexplicable reason, I felt physically exhausted most of the day. Maybe my metabolism is going haywire. Maybe it was the lack of sunshine. Who knows?
My life seems to be growing more political as my government keeps acting more retarded. My dad loaned me his (borrowed copy) of Fortunate Son. I haven't read far enough to post a true reaction yet, but let me say that the more I learn about W, the more I think we should just put the guy in a rocket and shoot him off to the moon. I think I'm going to buy my own copy.
Jeneane has written an interesting post about feeling at home/ feeling exiled. This is an issue I've always been somewhat sensitive to. I have a strange love/ hate relationship with belonging to both people and places. There are few places where I feel comfortably "at home" in the sense that I will always want to stay there (the Pacific Ocean might be an exception, but that's more like a geographical entity than a "place"). I'm more comfortable with leaving places than with staying. I'm more comfortable with change and upheaval than stability. Ironically, though, I do tend to form strong bonds with places, locations, and knowing where things are. Going back to my hometown last November was a very strange trip-- wonderful in its familiarity. I felt "at home" back in Ventura (despite all the hospital madness). But despite those feelings of comfort and familiarity, I didn't feel like living there anymore. I had no desire to move back there.
Jeneane questions whether or not she's always been in exile from herself.
My question: Have I always been purposefully an exile? Do I like being a stranger in a strange land? I think yes. Further: Is that really a perverse desire? Do we really need a place to call home? I think, as long as I have my net connection and my ocean, I will be OK.
On Vanilla Sky
In terms of plot development, this flick reminded me strongly of The Sixth Sense. Here is a film that contains a mystery that is revealed at the end in a sudden twist. However, The Sixth Sense worked because the twist at the end made sense in the context of the movie. Vanilla Sky, in my mind, was less successful because it didn't set up enough context for the twist at the end to be completely believable.
Beyond that, I did enjoy the movie somewhat. Fundamentally, it's about someone waking up. I think that was a good metaphor. Actually, I think that's all I really have to say. There were confusing aspects to the film, and I think that would turn most people off, but there was a bittersweet mood that I enjoyed that kept me engaged. The dialogue was fast paced and funny, although not very "real." The characters didn't speak the way real people would, but there was a cleverness that made me laugh and enjoy it. This ended up being a shorter review than I expected. Oh well.
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