rodney's weblog

Saw IV

24 hours after seeing Saw IV, I finally decided to look up on the net as to WTF was going on in the ending. The result was mind-shattering. In the past hour my opinion of the movie has gone from "man, this series is running outta steam" to "I AM NOT F**KING WORTHY". Here's the progression of my chat with my cousin, also a Saw fan:

hardatwrok: did u see saw 4 yet
Rodknee008: yeah
hardatwrok: yesterday?
Rodknee008: yeah
hardatwrok: what did you think
Rodknee008: did you see it yet?
hardatwrok: sucked huh
hardatwrok: ya
Rodknee008: yeah

:: revelation occurs ::

Rodknee008: omg
Rodknee008: omgggggggg

hardatwrok: omfg
hardatwrok: i need to rewatch both
Rodknee008: omggggg
hardatwrok: lmao

hardatwrok: HOW DID THEY THINK OF THIS
hardatwrok: THE IDEA MUST HAVE BEEN PLANTED BY SATAN HIMSELF
Rodknee008: rofl

The real twist in this movie completely flew over my head. I was way too focused (like everyone else in the theater) on the minor twists that were unfolding and utterly missed the bigger picture. Sifting through the 400 user reviews on Yahoo movies, it seems like most people didn't get it, which is both funny (in the sense of the film's cleverness) and sad (in the sense that mostly negative word of mouth will spread). This movie was brilliant, but I don't blame the people that didn't get it, myself included - its level of craftiness is just on a completely different intellectual plane.

change appreciation day

It's really strange how sometimes a seemingly meaningless event can come back and cause an unexpected, yet oddly fitting effect on your life. Earlier yesterday, I was at a 7-11 picking up a few things, and a disheveled, unkempt skateboarder came up to me in my car and asked for 50 cents. My mind instantly flashed to the coins that had been tinkling around in my cup holder for weeks. They were most likely never going to see any use; I don't like carrying change, and I eventually end up sweeping all loose change into the Change Bucket at home. What goes into the Change Bucket usually never comes out.

Thinking that the skateboarder would probably get infinitely better use out of my change than I would, I looked inside my cup holder. 52 cents - two quarters and two pennies. Perfect. I gave him the quarters and felt happy about fulfilling my philanthropic quotient for the day.

Hours later, I found myself on a college campus full of parking lots that my permit-less car couldn't park in. With no other options, I squeezed my car into a metered spot and looked inside my cup holder. I knew full well how much change was left in there (ie. not enough to prevent me from getting a ticket), yet I somehow had to look anyway, hoping that another pair of quarters would magically materialize and that I somehow hallucinated the events from earlier in the day. No, there were only 2 cents.

The thought that I had enough in my car to pay for a parking meter for the last couple of weeks, only to be robbed of it through some freak generous impulse earlier that very day, totally drove me crazy. I think I should start keeping some more change in my car.

schiff

http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/culturevulture/archives/2006/05/24/the_schiff_trea.html

"It's written for one hand," Schiff notes. "It's very difficult. It's very easy to miss. So what do pianists do?"

He illustrates: some play the first note in the left hand, and the first chord in the right hand. Some contort themselves to play the first note in the right hand.

"This," he pronounces with unexpected fierceness, " is disgusting".

"With Beethoven you have got to take risks. If you miss it, it's human. Beethoven didn't play music like competition winners today, he couldn't have cared less."

This type of practical, "music for music's sake" mentality makes me really excited to see Schiff this Wednesday. Bonus: finally having a reason to go to the WDCH that doesn't involve everyone-loves-me-because-my-name-is-so-exotic Esa-Pekka Salonen.