An Update

At my Dad's, leeching internet from the neighbors he sold his old house to. It's really nice being here, being relaxed, having a great time. Original plans were to be in Seattle, watching Wolves in the Throne Room tear it up, and it's unfortunate I couldn't do it, but I should have known better. I don't have enough time with my family, and this would have been the better choice. Wolves in the Throne Room are from the Northwest, and they play here enough. I will see them sometime soon.

Christmas 2010

Spending a night at mom's, a night at bro's, and three nights at dad's, then two nights in seattle seeing friends I've not seen in some time. Also going to see Neurosis and Wolves in the Throne Room. Should be a great trip and excited to see many people I've missed.
:)

Set Your Goals

...

Dreams

I have had some very vivid dreams lately, the kind in which you slowly become conscious that you're dreaming and then even wake up. You struggle to go back to bed to see how the story will end, and sometimes you actually can do it.
Listening to oodles of new music, including a few favorites. Gospel and Wolves In The Throne Room are near the top of the list. Currently listening to Bill Withers.

SUNDAYSUNDAYSUNDAY

Trey and Julia visiting was great. We had some good eatins, played some cards, had a few drinks, and just generally a good time. Very excited to see them around Christmas time. With the struggles I've had over the last couple of years, the main thing that makes me want to move back to Washington is being close to them again.

Mona is coming over to hang out in a few --- Haven't seen her in a while. I miss Andre, who is now pursuing a Ph.D at UCLA.

Trey and Julia coming down

I am going to be seeing Trey and Julia tomorrow. They are coming down to Eugene. Excited!

The Early Shift

Workin' at 9am today. My attempt to write a nice, detailed entry will be put off until tomorrow. :)

New Beginnings

I got up this morning and made myself coffee. This probably seems like a typical day for most, but rarely do I do this, so I'm rather happy with myself. I'm going to ride my bike to work, book and lunch in tow, so that I don't have to drive or come home for lunch on my bike.

Listening intently to Converge's Axe to Fall.

More later.

Closure approaching

I will know if I'm going to be living here as soon as Geoff writes me/calls me back. Keep your fingers crossed for me. :D

Two weeks/A hibernation

Time to start doing this again. :)

Sunday, or The Last Day With My Mom in Eugene

Sad. She goes home today. We have gone to most of the St. Vincent's and had a blast. Listening to an interesting band called La Dispute, which is like Mewithoutyou with a spasmatic backbone.

Ulver

Listening to their newest currently, Shadows of the Sun. Interesting, very mellow and ambient. I have downloaded a lot of music off of Vuze lately, to check out and peruse. I miss being in a band, but since that isn't currently an option, I am trying to broaden my music tastes.
Work at 11. Going to take my bike wheels to Paul's Bicycle Way of Life to get them trued at 10am.

Long day at work

Left about 45min late. Busy busy. Moving at the end of this month. Not sure where yet, but hopefully somewhere near work. :)

MNF

Patrick Chung, former Oregon Duck, goes for 2 blocked kicks and 1 pick 6 --- Nice.

On the Eve of Week 3

Going into my 3rd week as fulltime at my job. Riding my bike to work each day, unless I walk or jog. :)

Friday! Here We Go

October 1st - Woo
It's Friday night and I gotta find my keys still - Lame!

Week # 2 is almost over!

I've been working fulltime for nearly 2 weeks and I am becoming acclimated to the toll it takes on you. I still can't find my keys but I've been walking and riding my bike to work and I feel great! Yes. GREAT.

What a Day

First off, where are my keys? Could the goblin that stole them please return them? Grrr. I couldn't find them this morning, wound up riding my bike to work, and now I'm still not sure where they are. Here's to a much better Tuesday!

Sunnnnnda(e)(y)

I didn't get to bed right last night, so I'm pretty bleary-eyed. Listening to iTunes (Pavement), trying to figure out my plans for today. Reading reading reading, writing.

Gonna watch or listen to some NFL. Watched and listened to some NCAA football yesterday after having a bad migraine most of the day. I need to do laundry and dishes, and try and get this mess cleaned up. I also need to exercise, badly. I'd give Stagecoach about a 7.4/10, but with a lot of potential to grow into a better position. Now I'm watching Du Levande (Roy Andersson's You, The Living), which by title sounds like a reference to Ayn Rand, and I sincerely hope this is not the case. His film Songs From the Second Floor was one of my favorite films from my Nordic Film class, and is generally one of my favorites overall.

Week 1: Finis

Picked up cat food and Palahniuk's Stranger Than Fiction today on lunch. Week is over. Hallllllaluuuujah

One More Day

Listening to Yes on itunes. Tired. G'night

Wednesday night

Still working my way through Stagecoach (keep falling asleep), and more than halfway through week 1. :D

Day 2 of Plan 1

Gotta work at 11. 9 hour day yesterday, and back to 7.5 today, with an hour lunch. I'll be home then to do some work. Cody Doin' Work.

I've got to start...

...Writing these damned posts in the morning, so I can allow the normal creative juices to seep into some well-baked notions. Instead, I usually remember I should write just as the clock strikes midnight. Bad bad bad.

I'm looking forward to being off tomorrow so that I can watch some NFL! Call the dad at half-time, discuss strategy. Man, it looks like it could be the Ducks' year. 189-13, they have outscored their opponents in the first three games. Ridiculous.

A short entry

I finished The Lady From Shanghai but I can't remember how it ended, so I'm going to try and watch that tonight. Currently about halfway through Michael Bay's Pearl Harbor, and it is certainly deserving more merit than the 5.4 it gets on imdb, at least so far. Until tomorrow, I bid you adieu!

A compendium

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Ongoing blog

8/31

I am watching Oliver Stone's Wall Street and not impressed. Its sloppy and underwhelming as I've come to expect from this 'master.' Great topic, great potential, inconsistent acting, and poor poor poor payoff.

9/1

Started 'The Spirit,' a film that seems to have been ubiquitously dismissed by critics. Visually it is solid so far.

Ok, been thinking about it for a few, and it is sloppy, disjointed, and I feel if I'd read the comic I'd feel insulted. There is a truism among the cinemati that nothing is put into film that isn't handpicked. In other words, each scene, each cut, each slice of dialogue is MEANT to be there by the director, editor, both, or some combination of those who have the final say in what is printed. If this is true, it is difficult to call something 'sloppy' and yet it is accurate in that scenes and dialogue can be so misplaced /gratuitous/pointless that it is distracting and borderline awful. There are visual scenes like this in The Spirit (5/10). Sure, the dialogue is fragmented, the story wishy-washy, and it is hard to say one way or another if it captures the spirit of The Spirit as it were, but all of that aside there are some visually horrible scenes. There is a scene of black and white with a boot stepping on the floor and then coming back up again, and it has no depth or detail like the general mis-en-scene of the film. As we're nearing the climax there is this sudden, egregious shot that almost turns my stomach.

On a bright note, Wall Street (6/10) wasn't as bad as Midnight Express, but still not great. I'm listening to the director commentary.

9/2

Finished a documentary (Muhammad: Legacy of a Prophet 8/10) on the prophet Muhammad last night. All of his violent cavorting was passed off as necessary, naturally, and it was just a bit of a downer, despite the amount of information about his life that I learned.

I'm now watching Jacques Rivette's “Secret Defense.” It's a mystery of sorts, from what I can gather, and it is starting very slowly, very subtly. It's 166min, so I'm expecting great things, as this is my first Rivette.

Work. So stressful. I got Sunday off to see Loren and Angie's Shining-themed wedding at Timberline Lodge, and now I just need to catch a ride up there and all is well. We are cutting hours back to 80 tech hours and a lot of that is going to come from my schedule over the next two weeks. Ken has Maria and I at 39 hours a piece, but we'll see how that works. We have other techs scheduled over the next two weeks. Fun fun.

9/3

Work was decent. Pretty busy for a Friday. Home now, with about an hour left of Secret Defense (7/10). It ended very darkly, and I am excited to read about the film, once I get the internet back :)

9/4

Less than 2 weeks to have internet. Now I'm watching the Hudsucker Proxy now, one of just 3 Coen Brother movies I've not seen. It's pretty rad, like most Coen Brothers movies. Didn't get to see the end because of a scratched disc. Now I'm onto Blood Simple (7/10). Dark, well-acted, gritty. Now onto my last Coen Brothers film, A Serious Man (7/10). Unique, going to require some reading/research.

9/5

It was late last night, and this blog seems more of a terse, oblique summation of random events of my life. Anyway, finished WA's Bullets Over Broadway (7/10), and it was pretty decent.

9/6

Labor Day. Gonna watch some films, do some cleaning. Missed Loren and Angie's wedding because I wasn't feeling too great yesterday. I watched Woody Allen's Casino Royale (5/10) last night, and I say his because it more fits into his writing style than into John Huston's directing style, and What's Up Tiger Lily (6/10). It was alright. Now I'm working my way through his Bananas (6/10). It wasn't terrible, but I was disappointed. Any film that comments on politics doesn't really take much to succeed in my eyes.

9/7

I am writing this blog for myself. I have lost the internet and eve if anyone did read these entries, it won't be for a couple of weeks. 10 days, actually. I'm watching a documentary “La Americana” (6/10) which is about an illegal immigrant to America who is here to raise money for her paralyzed daughter who lives in Bolivia. It's a film I'm reviewing for film threat, and it is starting off pretty interesting.

9/9

WA's Husbands and Wives (8/10). Wow. Spot-on, hilarious mock-up (if you can even call it that with all the proper notes it hits) of marriage. Tomorrow marks 1 week left until I get the internet and my external dvd drive.

Now on to Deconstructing Harry, a film which I watched a good portion of a week or so ago, started to really enjoy, and was forced to back-burner.

9/10

Doing Black Crater tomorrow, which is around the Three Sisters of Oregon. Sounds like it will be a good workout. End of Deconstructing Harry was marred on my disc so I didn't get to finish it. On to Mighty Aphrodite. :D It was skipping a good deal as well and difficult to play. I am ordering an external drive in one week! ONE.WEEK.

9/11

538am. This seems to be the time I wake up as of late, usually just in time to let a very impatient cat out to run around. Watching Stanley Donen's 'Charade.'

9/12

I actually got to the top of Black Crater, which is a 7.4 mile round-trip, with an elevation gain of 2500'. Whew. Intense. I wouldn't have made without Ramona's insistence at the beginning. Now is the time to get into shape. Charade was pretty decent (7/10), definitely having its moments. Started 'Zorba the Greek' last night, so that is next on the agenda. Gonna swing by the library to use the internet and possibly hijack a few albums. A couple of days ago I did that and got some opera, an important genre of music that I know next to nothing about.

Ok ok, didn't get to the library, but Zorba the Greek is intense and wonderful. It's the first movie I've seen in a few months that has blown me away.

Though my migraines continue, I will be working fulltime and will be able to pay rent, phone, internet, etc all by myself. Life is opening up.

Watching the director's commentary now as well. (10/10). This is the first perfect film I've seen since Michael Haneke's The White Ribbon.

9/14

Long day at work last night and I didn't get a blog entry in. It's about 1020am on Tuesday now. Still working my way through Zorba the Greek audio commentary. Very interesting. Cacoyannis is quite the director. I have many film books and few mention him. It's hard to believe.

9/15

I'm still surprised to find that Cacoyannis gets very little mention in any of my numerous books. Zorba the Greek is packed with many many things that I don't know about and would like to find out. It is my second day off here until Sunday. I am currently watching Love & Basketball. It was surprisingly good (8/10). Most of the acting was superb and the story was formulaic but believable. The basketball elements were some of the better that I've seen in a fictional movie. Now I'm onto Robot Stories. His little short was alright, Mouse (6/10), but this is actually pretty decent. It is sort of an anthology about dealing with technology. There were 4 stories. The first is about a woman who is training to be a mother with a robot baby (apparently in the future, this is a test for adoption), and she has never forgiven or confronted her own mother's distance and coldness. The second is about a young man who is paralyzed and his sister and mom come to see him and find out that he is legally dead. The mother deals with her grief by trying to assemble a set of Transformer-like toys that her son loved, before she lets go and lets him go. The third is about a Robot bought by a company which comes to have emotions for another of its kind, despite the petty behaviors of the other coworkers there. And finally, we have a moribund man who, as society has begun to require, must upload his consciousness to stay alive forever, even as his body is dying. It is illegal not to. He decides to go against the grain. Very interesting film (8/10). Now I'm on to Topkapi (8/10), a film by Jules Dassin, suggested to me by my friend Jim.

9/16

Reading an essay on evolutionary psychology and film noir, which mentioned Orson Welles' Lady From Shanghai, so it is natural to watch that next, right? I work at 1130, and it is a three day run here before being off Sunday and then starting a weekly schedule of M-F. Wooooo. Long time coming.

Good dayyyy

Well, what to say. I am $125 short on rent which I've agreed to pay today, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel. I'm going to ask Ken to borrow a chunk, I have a big bag full of dvds to sell, and a few CDs, and then I'm going to Buffalo Exchange after work to see if I can sell some clothes. I figure whatever is left after that I can beg for, borrow, cajole, or kill someone for. What am I saying? I would never kill anyone for a chunk of $125. I would need to be short at least $200 for that.

Best thing though: I got my Film Threat login back. Yay!

Oh, Lost Weekend!

Well here we are Tuesday AM. My weekends for the last couple of weeks have been Tuesday/Wednesday. Listening to a crazy thrash band, Vektor.

I have a huge list of things to do today, and I'm going to do as many of them as possible. I need to do laundry, wash dishes and FINALLY unload and organize the remaining things in my apartment. :)

Midnight in the Garden of Wealth and Recession

My job is really difficult some days. It's smooth at times as well, but I'm dealing with the health of people and it can be really trying too. We are constantly fighting an uphill battle of hours with our corporation, which seem to change always, and its stressful not knowing how many hours you're going to get.

TGIT

My weekends seem to be in flux. It's now Wednesday and it is technically my Sunday. Mona and Andre's wedding reception is Saturday! Wow. Crazy crazy crazy. :)

God, a return

I miss REALLY blogging. I used to have a website stored at a domain that I was just waiting to get back up. Rhaka.cjb.net. It was a word used to belittle fellow men in Jewish society, something along the lines of today's "fag." The concept was that we should (always) conceptually and (sometimes) actually challenge our concepts of gender. I dated a girl who was very upset when she found out I looked at porn and destroyed my computer, when I stupidly gave it to her to show I didn't have to see it (porn) very often. Porn is not a necessity by any means. It's a lazy or expedient (depending on your vantage point) way of achieving stimulation and then climax.

Friday Evening in August

It's nearing 11pm, and I'm slowly getting more and more tired.

Watching an interesting interview with Kirk Douglas from 1957, just after he finished filming The Vikings and Paths of Glory.

The Great Rock n' Roll Swindle

Yesterday I watched Grumpy Old Men and Grumpier Old Men, both for the first time ever. Both were enjoyable. I wasn't very impressed with a highly regarded pairing of them earlier in their careers (The Odd Couple), but both of these were more interesting to me, perhaps because they were more Hollywood-ish, which isn't typically to my taste. I dunno. I liked the happy ending with Mathau and Lemmon, perhaps because I like both of them. I don't want to see bad things happen to them.

Just before that, I saw The Music Man for the first time. It has been a weekend of firsts.


Currently watching The Old Gringo, a film about Ambrose Bierce's last days and disappearance.

August the 1st, 2010

Watching Morton Costa's adaptation of Meredith Wilson's The Music Man. So far so good. It's not Singin' in the Rain, but it is pretty cool. "Ye Gods!"

It's almost football season (which is kinda cool), but it means - much more importantly to me - that basketball season is around the corner. BASKETBALL.

Saturday/Ukelele Melancholia

The work week is over! I am watching The Street Fighter with Sonny Chiba, while I prepare for my day.

Here are a few things I need to do today:

1. Drop of bedding at St Vinny's
2. Find more books to sell at Powell's online
3. Enjoy shopping around for more books/DVDS, etc (Axis and Allies pleeeeease?) at St Vinny's
4. Try and sell or trade clothing to Buffalo Exchange (I absolutely need a pair of shorts)
5. Groceries

Day off/Laundry/Cleaning/Priceless with Audrey Tatou

That up there pretty much sums it up. Can't wait to make this place sparkle and shine :))

God I love half-days

Worked 5-9 tonight. Watching Sion Sono's Noriko's Dinner Table and oddly compelled so far.

Tata for now.

Migraine 2.0

I still get it, every day. It starts slow, and it builds. Some days I can't believe how bad it gets. It is truly hard to deal with. I have started to build some legacy though. Integrity is what it is all about.

My good friend Michelle and her husband/fiance are in town. I can't wait to see them. I am blessed to have her as my friend.

A quick side not on the NBA. Jordan saying that he wouldn't have reached out to Magic or Bird makes him a pretty big douchebag, in my eyes. Haha. I just can't believe him acting like he was trying to beat the best to be the best. Yeah, I can understand that, but seriously saying that could affect his legacy is so silly. Sacrificing money and this bullshit notion of being the best is part of what makes Lebron, Wade, and Bosh more special.

Kings' moves

Lebron in Miami, along with Wade, Bosh, Ilgauskas, Miller, Haslem, Chalmers, and their rookies from the draft. The Blazers lost Martell Webster, which is kinda sad, but what really concerns me is their (Paul Allen's) dismissal of Kevin Pritchard? I just can't figure it, and it seems such a raw deal. A little explanation would be nice.

The King and I was not very good, and I'm moving on to Winterbottom's The Claim. I have sooo much to do today, and so I'm going to get the whip crackin'.

The films and I

Watching Rodgers & Hammerstein's The King and I. Pretty lame. The king of Siam is the stereotype you'd expect, and he is slowly learning from this English teacher. Getting to know you is a cool song. :)

Off to play some basketball :)

Weekend, day 1

I was up at 7am, finished watching Scent of a Woman, and went back to sleep. SoaW was decent, quite good at times, and then terribly banal and corny at other times. It wasn't good corny either, as the movie attempted to have a very serious undertone, leaning towards a realism of sorts, and then counterpunched with cliche-ridden pabulum. No thanks to the latter. Pacino was brilliant most of the time, but Chris O'Donnell seems a little too suited for passive obeisance, which created a sort of vacuum. It wasn't believable the way that he found a way to stave off Pacino's bender and the speech given at the gathering at the end was greatly written but seem out of place with the rest of the movie, and further made it unbelievable. Overall score: 6/10.

On to the next film. :)

Frustrating Independence Day

I am so frustrated with myself. Why why why can't I finish unloading my stuff at this place??? Why can't I organize and make lists and really embrace living in a much more organized, impassioned manner?
The last couple of weeks have seen me completing similar cycles with girls for no good reason. First there was Jessica. I definitely wasn't into her personally, but she seemed potentially cool and I was ready to get to know her. I had to cancel plans a couple of times and she basically finally texted me that she didn't want me to text her anymore. Of course she was 23 and her reasoning was that she didn't think we were clicking.. I can understand that but I am not sure it was the actual reason, seeing as how she seemed to have fun while we hung out, and even sent me unrequested naked pictures. I certainly don't think a girl's proclivity for sharing pictures - especially nude - has anything to do with actual interest in a person, but I could see her being angry with me canceling plans. Was it some sort of weird inability to communicate her actual desires/intentions/distaste to me? I wish so badly sometimes that I could put myself in people's minds. I just don't get it. What makes someone think that this enfolding action that is about to happen is OK? Is there rational thought behind the synapses and stimuli that lead to this?

Howabout this girl Saryn. We hang out a couple of times, and I'm expressing my interest in her, as something other than friends. She keeps saying (over the course of a few days) that its a possibility. We hang out on my birthday and we're having a couple of drinks, playing some pool, and she lets me know that she has to leave. She heads out and I finish my beer and game of pool and I leave and she leaves the tab for me. Here's what goes through Cody's mind: This girl is in college, working hard just to get by, we've discussed the potential of dating, and she leaves her bill to be paid for by me. Ok, that's cool.. She doesn't even ask if I can cover the bill. Fair enough. Knowing it is my birthday, and that I'm not exactly well off, but if we are potentially dating, I wouldn't mind covering the bill for someone who is less well off than me. That has to be what she is thinking, right? I mean.. right? Wrong. The next day she says we should be friends. Hahaha. The night after I bought her beers on my birthday. Wow. People are so fucking stupid!

Don't get me wrong, I can be too. But I guess I'm a little quicker to admit it than most.

Meteora

Unbelievable complex of monasteries in Greece. Found out about this place the other night while playing a game on facebook and have been held in awe ever since. I have a short shift tonight, from 4-9. There are so many things I need to get done, so I'mma get back to it. Happy Monday, June 28th, 2010.

Hollywood, always up to no good

For the third time in about 3 months, a video rental store in Eugene is going out of business. This is the second Hollywood Video and there was a Blockbuster as well. Its great. I never rent movies and now I'm able to add to my auteur collection. I picked up a ton of Claude Chabrol films last night, along with many others.
This weekend I'm working with a floater. We will see how that goes. I'm off Sunday now though, so that is excellent, and our pharmacy manager is finally back. Glad to hear he is feeling better (he tweaked his back and wound up having to get surgery out of it).
A couple of posts back I mentioned a girl and we are no longer talking. I had to cancel hanging out a couple of times and apparently that bothered her to the point of not wanting to talk anymore. That's what I get for hanging out with girls who are a lot younger than me and don't understand how to communicate. Oh well, her loss.
My brother is thinking about coming down really soon, but we'll see if there are any days in which that makes sense in the upcoming weeks.
I have been battling a bit of a cold all week, and only had one bad day where, while I was at work, I felt like I shouldn't be there. That was Wednesday. Hopefully that doesn't happen again. Yesterday I felt a lot better. The good part about having sinus pressure and congestion is that my mini-migraine either recedes or seems to.

Game 5

I woke up this morning with a horrible sore throat. I haven't really done much today to make it better, although I did guzzle some OJ and I've been lying around taking it easy.

Game 5 is tomorrow, and I am stoked to see the passionate, smaller, older, and beaten up Celtics play the more svelte, lengthy, yet still roughed-up Lakers leave their hearts on the parquet floor.

Post-Wicker Man & Game 3 & Congeries of life

Well the Lakers won game 3. Lame, right? Celts down 2-1. Game 4 tonight, but I'm going to watch the new Alice in Wonderland with the girl I've been hanging out with. =D

Wicker Man was interesting fare, and I also watched part of Places in the Heart and 13 Ghosts (the original), the former a fairly recognizable archetypal slave/dustbowl depression story, the latter a boringly crafted ghost story.

Check out Old Gregg

Game 3 & The Wicker Man

Well, it's game three in Boston tonight. I hope the Celtics pull it out, and they very much could, as they won Sunday in LA to even up the series. I finished The Last Picture Show and wasn't too impressed. It had its moments, but I think I'm expecting too much for a film that is supposed to critique the US.

I am planning on seeing Shutter Island tonight as well, which should be a treat ---

Sunday with a lot to do

Game 2 of the finals is on tonight. I have a ton of laundry and dishes to do (Absolutely a lucky man to have a washer/dryer and dishwasher in my apt.). I am working my way through Peter Bogdanovich's The Last Picture Show, and I am writing an essay on evolutionary perspective(s) of punishment and justice.

As for game 2, I am pulling for the Celtics. The Lakers annoy the hell out of me and I really like Garnett and Rondo. I have respect for some of the Lakers, but Kobe, Artest, and Lamar Odom all bug the hell out of me.

sadly enough,

LA won game 1. I watched a pretty interesting snippet of Kobe Bryant talking about the moves of players throughout the history of the NBA, but I still can't stand the guy. He reeks of hubris.

Game 2 is tomorrow. I'm quite excited for it.

f la

nuff said. game 1, here we go.

Memorial Day 2010

Well I have a full, long day of work ahead of me tomorrow, and with a floater pharmacist to top it off. This dude, "Tom," had better be good. "Take the Coltrane" is playing in the background and I am cleaning and organizing while I parcel my way through Woody Allen's "Play it Again, Sam."

Dennis Hopper, Gary Coleman, Celtics, Lakers/Suns?

Will it be "Los Suns" or the Lakers? Part of me really wants the Lakers (my least liked NBA team) so that the Celtics could beat them and make them look terrible, but another part of me wants the Suns so that, no matter what, the Lakers can't win. I would really like to see 2-time MVP Steve Nash win a championship as well. The guy is humble, socially engaged, and incredible to watch.

Who knows what treasures in game 6 of the Western Conference Finals are held in store for us tonight, but the Celtics look amazing. Rondo isn't the best point guard in the game, but he is damn good, and a playmaker, and very fun to watch.

Gary Coleman passed away yesterday and Dennis Hopper today. My brother used to love Diff'rent Strokes while we were growing up, but I don't remember anything about it. I did love Blue Velvet though, and Wenders' The American Friend (based on the Ripley novels by Patricia Highsmith). I still have yet to see Easy Rider which he co-wrote and directed and is considered by many to be his best. RIP guys.

NBAAAAA

The Celtics busted out to a 3-0 lead on the favored Orlando Magic and seem to be ready to seal it here in game 6. When they are clicking, they are really clicking and tonight is no different.

I am trying to get moved into my place but I gotta work hard and I need to start NOW haha.

Cinco de Mayo

As we all know, that Suns beat my Blazers in the first round of the playoffs just about a week ago, and I was really fed up with them. Knowing that they oppose the ridiculous immigration law passed in Arizona, however, gives me newfound respect for them ---

Blase day off

I am laying here in bed, not wanting to get up, though I need to get milk in order to have cereal. Wow, that is sad. hahah.

NBA Playoffs, Round 1, Day 2

Yesterday I watched a lot of the Cleveland/Chicago game. I was sort of hoping Chicago didn't get the 8 seed because they seem overrated to me. I'm not a Derrick Rose fan. Oh well, Cleveland mopped the floor with them. I really would like to see the Blazers win it all, but they won't with 3 significant injuries this year. I do see them beating Dallas though. Let's hope.
Lakers are beating OKC right now, and I hope OKC makes it tougher on them.

Weekend

Well, Tuesday/Wednesday is my official weekend and here we are. I'm watching the Asquith version of George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion. I have little or no knowledge of GBS, aside from knowing he was a politically active playwright. Criterion just released a collection of his filmed plays, mainly by Gabriel Pascal.

There is a contest for the entire Akira Kurosawa collection from Criterion, and the contest involves writing one sentence. Here is my entry, in the form of a Zen Koan:

A monk asked Kurosawa, "What is the meaning of cinema?" Drawing his samurai sword, he hacked the camera to pieces. "If you meet cinema, kill it."

One thing about the George Bernard Shaw readings/watchings. I definitely consider myself a Fabian Socialist.

Friday Night in March

Watching the end of Bucks/Kings game, which is in overtime. Blazers held off the Wizards at the Rose Garden, thanks to a last second j by BRoy. Its really surprising that it took a last second shot to beat a very subpar team.

This week I watched a few films by Ki-duk Kim, "Bad Guy", "Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter, and Spring...", and "Samaritan Girl", all of which left me rather disappointed when you take into account the accolades that this director has received internationally.

On a lighter note, I've started a facebook group dedicated to not letting Ralph Lawler use his trademark "bingo."

A Rededication

This whole "I'm going to create an honest, searching blog entry as often as possible" scenario doesn't seem to be working. I tend to write random quips and rarely do I even feel up to thinking about them and actually collecting my thoughts. That is going to change.

I've been casually reading Bill Bradley's "Values of the Game," and it is actually really good. From a sort of populist, democratic viewpoint, the book is just a lengthy focus on aspects of discipline and desire that lead to a "winning" disposition. Also I have a couple of interesting books on evolution and the nature of narrative that I hope to use as a sort of foundation for my Mozi page. I'm still reading about Altman's "Nashville" before I watch the final films of his.

I found a bunch of movies at Hollywood Video on River Road. This is my third batch of films from there since they started going out of business. I found a couple of extra Woody Allen films that I don't have (I've started watching "Stardust Memories" last night) along with many other auteurs that I'm "collecting."

I've started talking to a couple of brand new people, which is really cool, and I have a weekend worth of chores to do in this nice 2 day weekend I have ahead of me. More next time.

3/9

Watching the Lakers/Raptors right now, Raptors up by 3 going into the 4th in LA. Go Raptors.

The week in review

Two recent earthquakes, in Haiti and Chile seem to drive home just how poor those countries are, especially Haiti. And this is certainly another element of strip-mining remote countries and leaving them powerless.

First in a while

So I did get money from my little accident, and I'm finally on top of bills (sort of).. Still a ways to go. Playing some scrabble on facebook with my homey Mona, and watching a Fatih Akin film called "Head-On." Pretty intense so far.

Light at the end?

I was rear-ended last Thursday, after a really emotional day at work. It sounds like I will get some money out of it, which I can desperately use. :)

Some thoughts on NBA All-star Weekend

I was bored Saturday (bored in a "waiting for an anticipated event" sense, as any other use of the word bored seems disingenuous) so I was kinda flipping through the games on men's college basketball slate and I happened across the Texas A&M/Texas Tech game (I can't be sure it was this game, and I wish I would have blogged right then). I was floored by the Texas Tech Red Raiders' jerseys just having have "Red Raiders" where the player name usually appears. It is such a simple thing, but that is how all team jerseys should be.

The work of life

It's time to begin. And that time is 541am on a Wednesday morning, apparently.
I didn't lose my job, but I came very close, so it is time to throw out all the possible cliches and embrace at least one of them.

First post of February

I am going to get suspended or maybe even fired at work. I ran out of gas and was late the week before last and then was late again this Thursday by about 20min. These mistakes can happen, but after all the crap and stupid things I've done, I need to have a very punctual work schedule. If I get another chance, I will do just that. Perhaps I'll have a nice light-hearted post here in the day(s) to come. I hope that is the case.

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.