January 23, 2005

Blocking

Ack. How self-regarding was that last post? Sorry.

And, despite taking three times as long to write as any of its precursors, Precious doesn't work for me. All too obviously an exercise in blocking, like actors sorting out their marks onstage. Getting things from A to B. Joining the dots.

Ah well, never mind. There'll be plenty of other chances to get things right -- or less wrong -- in future. At least, I hope there will.

Some of this occurred to me while revisiting Desperate Housewives last night. (Channel 4 reshowed the first three episodes back to back, which means I feel even more guilty than I did already for inconveniencing a dear friend earlier in the week to fill a gap.) I like this show a lot, although the suspense elements are over-stretched, and there's too much suburban sitcom filler. It doesn't often hit the Twin Peaks rhythm it would like to, I think, but it's early days yet.

Anyway, there were a few moments of blocking last night. These things can slip past on a first viewing, if done with sufficient élan; it's only TV, after all. But at second sight I occasionally found myself thinking: "Say what? That makes no sense at all; doesn't ring true. It's a scene confected to achieve function X. They're just joining the dots."

I know the feeling.

Yesterday, I played badminton with my friend and intermittent gym partner Stuart. It was our second or third match in a year, and neither of us was in great shape after a rather drunken Friday night. (Augh.) I used to play quite a bit, but these days it's about once every 6 months, so I'm very out of practice -- and it's not like I was ever very good in the first place. Still, I won all three games easily. I hope it doesn't put Stuart off. He could be far better than me with only a tiny bit of work -- he has some great shots and often returns things I lazily expect to be winners -- but right now I have enough tricks up my sleeve to be comfortably on top, and that can be demoralizing. Anyway, it's more fun than lifting weights.

Afterwards, we went to see Elektra, which was rubbish. Not exactly surprising, but a disappointment all the same; the trailer promised more creative appropriation from entertaining Asian sources than the film itself delivered. (Creative appropriation from Asian sources being the whole foundation of Elektra in comicbook form.) The scene with Stick playing pool is amusing, though.

This evening there was more authentic Asian cinema in the form of Wong Kar Wai's quasi-sequel to In the Mood for Love, 2046. It's overlong and massively self-indulgent; also ravishingly beautiful and rather moving. I must admit I was flagging about two thirds of the way through -- and so, I reckon, was the film -- but things picked up again in the last half hour, and all in all I liked it. Not one for the impatient, let's say.

Love is all a matter of timing. It's no good meeting the right person too soon or too late.

And now it's onto another working week. Oh joy.

It's going to be a tough one. Work is really fucking hard at the moment. I'm responsible for delivering an insanely complicated project next Monday and it's going to be a close-run thing. I suspect that by Wednesday I'll be tearing my hair out, so don't expect too many coherent blog posts. It's possible I'll have things to say; it's more likely I'll be desperately trying to hit my marks.

Getting things from A to B.

Joining the dots.
Posted by matt at January 23, 2005 08:43 PM

Comments

Don't mention it; staying up all night sending you an episode is what I live for. I am about to watch episode 13 while I eat :)

Thanks for the review; I take it as an affirmative, then that I should take a gander, should the opportunity arise? Right, scran time. Good luck with your deadline; that's what weekends are for after all, and I'm sure you'll make it. Or die trying :D

Posted by: Stairs at January 24, 2005 06:26 PM

Well, you're the expert on that :/

Should the opportunity arise, yes, see it. If you haven't already seen ITMFL, you may want to do that first, if only to have some idea what the little snippets of Maggie Cheung are all about.

Enjoy 113 and your, er, scran.

Posted by: matt at January 24, 2005 06:50 PM

Ta, will do. Who hasn't seen "ITMFL"?

Also, expect post. And I'm going to bed now; have to be up at four. Blech. The scran was good; puttanesca with a few chillies chucked in atop gnocchi. My 1.2 kg block of parmesan is almost gone, 1/3 of that during this sitting. Engorgementositousness.

Posted by: Stairs at January 24, 2005 08:11 PM

Gluttonositousness, more like :)

Four? Jesus, that's inhuman. It had better be for a good reason.

And I'm all expectant, even if I don't know what I'm expecting. Are we awaiting silent trystero's empire or are you writing a blog entry? Or perhaps it's a fence-post? A lamp-post? An instance of the fingerpost?

Time will tell.

Posted by: matt at January 24, 2005 08:53 PM

Is this a private conversation?

Good luck with the project, Matt.

Posted by: Ryan at January 25, 2005 07:09 PM

It's extremely private, which is why we're conducting it over this ultra-secure channel.

Thanks for the luck. So far it's going okay, as long you use some lesser-known definition of the word "okay" that includes nervous breakdowns for everyone involved and a fair certainty of being in the office the whole weekend.

Would it be nagging if I mentioned the phrase episode four?

[Stairs] Thanks for the disc, which I shall return soon. Hope you're having a good time on the frozen tundra. Have an ice-cream at the Giolitti for me.

Posted by: matt at January 26, 2005 08:36 PM

Yes, good luck with your project. As I wrote over the weekend, these things happen to me sometimes and the worst of it is that through all the resentment and the annoyance that I somehow enjoy it.

Obviously I shan't nag you on my behalf because you are far too busy to do anything as trivial as reading.

Anyway, if you can't be self-regarding in a blog then where?

Posted by: Dunx at January 26, 2005 10:40 PM

Desperate Housewives rocks...though I stop short of calling it a guilty pleasure, since it's not so much a pleasure as it is a passing fancy, and I don't feel guilty for watching it. Which I do. Every week. Religiously :-)

I do identify with the workload. It's quite crazy at my job for the moment, which means a lot of late hours for me. But it's very exciting, at the same time, since it's all so new. I don't look forward to the novely wearing off, but in the meantime, I do get quite a kick out of it...

Posted by: Colin at January 28, 2005 12:41 AM

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