I AM HERE!

So...
What am I doing? Right. Now.

I am reading "Eight Little Piggies" by Stephen Jay Gould. It's ridiculously good. I encourage everyone to read it, specifically the essays "The Golden Rule: A Proper Scale for Our Environmental Crisis", "Losing a Limpet", "Bent Out of Shape", and "An Earful of Jaw". Just real good stuff.

I watched three movies this week: "Sex Lies and Videotape" by Stephen Soderbergh, "Back to School" starring Rodney Dangerfield, and "Private Collections," a collection of sexually themed short films by three different directors, Just Jaeckin, Shuji Terayama, and Walerian Borowczyk.

Sex Lies and Videotape was marginally good, but I felt let down by the ending a bit. There were real challenges in the film, specifically how to deal with the fact that your loved one will undoubtedly have experiences that you cannot share with them, but I didn't think that any of the characters behaved in a manner even remotely resembling an actual person. Or at least a person that I could tolerate. When idiots collide onscreen, it doesn't really affect me.

Back to School was great in the way that I wanted it to be. There were a few laugh out loud lines, and a moderately good story. Sally Kellerman as Dangerfield's love interest was moppish and horrible, but I mostly watched for laughs and to see my hometown campus. Oingo Boingo makes an appearance, as does Kurt Vonnegut. Comedies are not like this anymore.

Private Collections was surprisingly interesting. The first short was fairly standard horror-softcore porn by the director of Emmanuelle, but it was well done and the score was excellent. The middle film, by Shuji Terayama, stood out for its incredible visual images and twisting plot. The final piece, by Walerian Borowzcyk, didn't really sustain my interest although I did finish it. I would recommend this movie to anyone who likes David Lynch and sex, preferably together.

Those are my thoughts today. Until later probably.