Finding Forrester

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My landlord is out of town this weekend, so the burden of household chores fell on me tonight: watering the plants, throwing out the trash, feeding the cats, cleaning the kitty litter boxes, sorting the mail. That done, I settled down in my room, with a cup of cocoa in my hand and a purring cat in my lap, to watch Finding Forrester while the laundry dried.

What an excellent piece of work, masterful even in its unassumingness. It does not seem to present itself as an epic in scope or execution, yet the film carries what would be an otherwise common story across that fine line between the formulaic and the classic. I would venture to say that Sean Connery was not even needed for the role of William Forrester: the part was written quite well enough to evoke inspiration from even lesser talents than he. (Not to say, of course, that Connery was not a splendid performer in the role of the sage eccentric. I got much practice in the Connery Accent, repeating his lines after him throughout the film. “You’re the man now, dog!”)

Thanks to Valerie for lending me the tape. Now I shall hie to bed, as I must wake up bright and early tomorrow morning to clean the bathroom.

Walking in Washington

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A note to tourists in Washington, DC: please walk faster. This is not Disneyland; your tour groups are blocking the capital’s vital sidewalks with your 0.35 mph human obstacles. As much as possible, try to match pace with native Washingtonians, who walk at about 5mph below the posted freeway speed limit. Faster if it’s a cold day.

(Visiting New Yorkers, on the other hand, may want to consider slowing down, so as to avoid the relativistic space-time distortion that occurs at near-light speeds.)

Hell Week

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This morning — yesterday morning, I mean, since it’s past 1am — I finished up my kinetic photo shoot. “Kinetic,” because it involved my moving around and taking time exposure sequences on foot. The main sequence, for example, involved walking the full length of the National Mall, from the Capitol to Lincoln Memorial, taking a picture every two hundred or so steps. The resulting sequence, when animated, is a warp speed run down the Mall, zooming by the Washington Monument and Reflecting Pool before stopping at Lincoln Memorial. Revolving kinetic sequences around the Monument and various other DC landmarks were also done.

It was a good day for it. Much walking was done in the cold, cold wind, and it was fun to sit on the steps of the Lincoln or Jefferson Memorial and pull out my iBook to transfer photos on the fly. I’ve put most of them together into time-exposure animations in Director; now the challenge is to finish the rest of the multimedia project by Wednesday. Which is why I’m up at 1.30 in the morning, blogging from the MICA MA Digital Lab.

No rest for the weary.

MARC Stop

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Looking out the window from a MARC single-level coach at the West Baltimore stop on the Penn Line. Ah, the rowhouses of Baltimore.

Photo taken with an Aiptek Mini Pencam 1.3MP.

Rubenian Cultist Answers

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A follower of the Philippine Benevolent Missionaries Association, the Filipino cult that made headlines a few months ago for its bloody runs-in with the law, left a defense of his “Divine Master” in an old comments thread this morning. Apparently they are not a cult because they are registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission. But hey, so is the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company. Does that also make them the one true faith?

I don’t know why SEC registration is touted by so many Philippine cults as an automatic stamp of their “truth.” That doesn’t make their leader’s drug-crazed murdering spree any more right, nor does it in any way validate their false, misguided teachings. “Love and benevolence,” my foot. Maybe Peter cut off Malchus’ ear when the guards came to arrest Jesus, but the Lord stopped him and healed the ear, didn’t he? Ruben Ecleo did no such thing while his followers rained bullets on the police. He was probably too high on methamphetamines to even notice.

I’ve said everything I’ve had to say on the PBMA here. I stand by the true Word of Scripture, and I refuse to accept the ramblings of a fallible man, let alone a deluded criminal like Ruben Ecleo.

Change of Mind

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Gillian: Are you sure you won’t change your mind?

Spock: Is there something wrong with the one I have?

Heh heh. Just watched Star Trek IV again. What a funny romp through the park.

The End of the Affair

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We broke up two months ago, and since then, to make peace with her, I have had to make peace with myself. The end of the affair is this: Our callings and paths have grown too far apart, and I will not see her for years yet, so now we are friends, good friends, and will probably never be more than good friends ever again. I will hold the past eight years dear to my heart, and my heart and hands will always be open to her. But now, we must go down our separate ways as God leads.

It’s a sad, lonely, anticlimactic way to end a love which we and others cherished for so long; but when a heart is changed, how can love force it back to its old ways? As the song by Sting goes, If you love somebody / If you love someone / If you love somebody / If you love someone / Set them free / Free, free, set the-em free”

I’ve had two months to heal. No grudges, no regrets. This is life, and the pain is part of it. I would be less of a man for not feeling it, but now I will look forward.

This is my last melodramatic post on the topic. I’m okay, all’s well, Good Lord’s on his throne. Rejoice.

El Al Hijack

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Whoa. Looks like an Israeli-Arab tried to hijack an El Al plane bound for Istanbul from Tel Aviv. El Al is Israel’s major airline. Security guards on the plane overpowered the hijacker as he tried to storm the cockpit. Major news networks are all over it, but there’s nothing big on the web as of now. That’ll probably change in a few minutes.