VEOH

Wow, so I've downloaded numerous movies with/at veoh.com, and I swear by it at this point. I'm hoping to get to a non-corrupted iDvd so I can try and create actual dvds with menus and such.

Why am I going to bed so late??

The last couple of nights I haven't slept very well and it is fairly upsetting! Tonight I'm going to see my first Ken Loach film with Summer, entitled Land and Freedom. I've been reading about Robert Altman's Nashville, which I've found to be an effective tool to build interest prior to seeing a film. Book length writing about a single film is really good stuff. Haha.

I've found veoh.com and downloaded numerous rare, hard-to-find films, including quite a few that aren't even available in region 1.

TGIS!

Since it is a real weekend, my celebratory mood continues.

I'm tired. I was up until about 1am before I realized I hadn't taken my nighttime medicine. After taking it, I was up another 5 hours or so. I must remain awake. I need to get some food in me, and then take a shower so I'm awake!!!! I need to get on a better schedule.

Apparently the official search for Haitian survivors of the earthquake has been ended. How tragic. 75,000 bodies, and somewhere between 115,000-200,000 dead. These are the real Christians. They are the ones that need to reach out counter-intuitively to a life better than this one that they've been granted. My hope goes out to them.

TGIF

First time in a while that I've had a conventional weekend, for whatever that's worth. I also have a bit of money for groceries so I can splurge a bit for some nice little treats. I think I'm just going to play Oblivion until I pass out.. yayyyyyyyyyy

Almodovar, work

I work two straight full days now, before having the weekend off. I just hope things aren't as crazy as they have been. Our pharmacy is so strange in that it is not busy enough to merit extra help, but it's too busy for sanity. Perhaps this is a common thing in retail pharmacy? I know some people think so, such as The Angry Pharmacist.

I finished Bad Education last night, and I'm beginning to see Pedro Almodovar as quite the constructor of intense drama. I'm now starting Volver in the hopes to see his newest, Broken Embraces, at our local arthouse.

Avatar is tearing up the ratings, despite what seems to be a complete clone of Pocahontas. In other news, this looks awesome. Banksy is a badass.

Blogs, Imaginarium, Blazers

Last night, after a good dinner at Cafe Yumm, I moseyed on over to the Bijou to visit a friend I haven't seen in ages and to sample the latest fare from Terry Gilliam. The visuals were Gilliamesque and certainly left nothing to be desired, but the narrative was severely disjointed and incomplete. That's what happens when one of the main characters dies during filming. RIP Heath Ledger.

I've been reading a lot of blogs about Facets Multimedia and how the quality of their material can be pretty subpar. Very interesting reads, and learning of many film directors and films that I've never heard of. Very intrigued by Raymundo Gleyzer, a filmmaker who "disappeared" and has never been seen since. WTF?

Lastly, I am continually shocked at the Blazers winning games without Greg Oden, Joel Przybilla, Travis Outlaw, and lately, their superstar, Brandon Roy. Wow.

A sense of order

I write this blog to attempt to tally the days and provide myself a sense of order. I've vowed to write in this blog daily now and so far I'm doing pretty well.

Originally I started this blog as a migraine diary, cataloging what medications I take and how often, and how few and far between my migraines became. So far I still get one every day. But I must qualify this comment by saying that my migraines aren't "real" migraines. I don't want to vomit, lose vision, need to lay in bed with a cold rag on my head, etc. That being said, there are times when they daily headaches do reach a point somewhere near those of a typical migraine. My head is just always slightly off, it seems. I have found a daily dosing that essentially keeps this condition in check, in 100mg of Amitriptylene at bedtime (845pm), 20mg of Propranolol three times daily (I take them at 845am, 245pm, and 845pm), and 40mg of Citalopram in the morning (845am). I see my PCP tomorrow, as I was fired by my neurologist for missing an appointment.

That is an update, which should organize my thoughts in this blog so that I can get into something even more organized.

Movies and Meetings

I met a really nice lady last night. :)

We had a beer at a new place I've not been to (Hop Valley) in Springfield and then went over to the cheap seats to see Where The Wild Things Are, which was a solid flick. Then, being the nerdy person that I am, I stayed over and saw Fantastic Mr. Fox, which had some really excellent visuals and was solid as well.

Easy like a ...

Work was pretty chill yesterday. Got a lot done. It's really nice to get the time to catch up, especially at our pharmacy. It's not always an easy thing to do. Typing, filling, checking out at the register, return-to-stocks, cycle counts, and of course, basic maintenance (sweeping, mopping, keeping counter tops clean, garbages, filling vials of all different sizes, container lids, making sure rx hardcopies are filed correctly).
Let's just say I got to most of that yesterday.
Today is laundry day and then I'm meeting a girl named Summer off of myspace for the first time. We're going to see Where the Wild Things Are at 740pm!!

Work 1-6

Well here it is about 1130am and I work at 1pm. I'm going to try and do nothing until just before I have to run roughshod to the shower to get to work on time.

I'm still slowly working my way through Robert Altman's (or should I say Carver's?) Short Cuts. The multiplicity of stories woven into a loosely collated narrative seems to be the schizophrenic equivalent to the portmanteau film, which are the films with a (sometimes) barely related theme by several directors. Sometimes only the thinnest of pretexts exists, such as the Gondry/Carax/Bong film, Tokyo!
I have scheduled the first of what I hope to be a regularly occuring movie night(s) at my apartment. We (so far just me and Andre) will be watching two films by Derek Jarman, In The Shadow of the Sun and Jubilee.

More later.

text “HAITI” to 90999 to donate $10 to American Red Cross relief for Haiti.

Alright the subject says it the most. Even if that is all you can do, do it.

Basketball season is in full swing, and I am so with the Blazers right now. Great stuff, injuries aside. They really have a core that believes in TEAM, and that is a great thing. Watching them play the Magic tonight on ESPN360. Thank you comcast. That's all I can say.

Work suspension, The Bear, and General distance

I've been suspended from work for 3 days. I was late a few times and it is costing me. I've never been suspended before, and I must say, this is a wake-up call. From here on out, this is the new Cody.

I've been reading a very interesting and impressive account of the creation of The Bear, a film by Frenchman Jean-Jacques Annaud. I've not seen the movie, though my friend Kayla apparently has ursaphobia for some reason, and this movie has haunted her from childhood. I certainly plan on seeing it as soon as I've finished the book, which reads more as a fascinating account of the director's style, which is not auteurist in the least, but idiosyncratic, and features a pronounced obsession with being challenged. In this regard, I see a lot of similarities with Werner Herzog and Errol Morris. These filmmakers seem to approach life in a similar way.

Tuesday, January 12th, 2010

Well It is the second Tuesday of the new year, and I sit cold, under the covers with my cat and my giant brown comforter. Her eyes are in that between sleep and waking, slowly slipping shut phase.

I am continually baffled about her ability to simply crash out wherever she happens to be in the apartment, provided she is either in a perceived safe place or just next to me.

I've read Robert Sapolsky's Why Don't Zebras Get Ulcers and I am simply jealous. Do you ever feel like you're walking around in daily life with a huge suit of padding surrounding you, afraid of the body and head blows that could be lurking at any turn?

Sunday of a New Year

2010. It's hard to believe we're in a new decade, let alone a new year. Time goes so fast, as they say, faster with each proceeding year. I could write about a lot of things right now, but instead I will simply state one of several 2010 resolutions: Write my daily thoughts into this blog.