Random Ramblings
May. 24th, 2004 12:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Mayan culture, an interesting article in the Economist magazine.
I've been living a strange, digital cameraless existence with my S2 Pro in Fuji servicing... They hopefully can make its TTL flash control behave correctly. But even so, with my computer busted, and my camera away, I'm having this odd sort of vacation. Doesn't feel all that bad.
I also went to the Tampa International Airport unclaimed property auction. Apparently these things have become so famous that everyone went there looking for hidden treasures. The offerings were pretty slim; most was junk, cheap cameras, binoculars, beat up old cell phones etc. Everything even remotely valuable had been hand picked and was sold separately. Much of the stuff was sold in huge lots. It was way too crowded, and a lot of people never got in, and many that did never got a chance to look at the goods. So, now I've been to a US auction, and the auctioneer was fun to listen to, but there were no bargains to be had, and no voyeristic views into full suitcases of unknown people. In other words, don't bother going.
Beyond that... Saw a couple of movies.
The Returner is a Japanese sci-fi action flick. It qualifies as a B-production by American standards, and in fact is very easy for western audiences to watch. Especially for people with interest in Japanese culture it is definitely worth seeing, and it seems to have a certain charm to it.
Kill Bill II was a less gory, more cinematographically interesting ending to Kill Bill I. It continues to showcase Tarantino's eye and borrowing from all manner of genres. I don't like the way Tarantino uses his talent, but I have to admit that he certainly has some, and he's brought several excellent Asian titles to the US market, which I applaud.
Paycheck. A John Woo movie I missed in the theaters, based apparently, if loosely, on a Philip K. Dick short story of a man who does jobs so secret that his memory of them gets erased. After one of these jobs he finds himself hunted by all manner of people and with a bag of random knick-knacks instead of the huge paycheck he expected, and needs to find out just what happened during the time for which he no longer has any memories. The premise is way cool, and Woo does what Woo does, that being fast-paced, interesting action. A bit too much, though, especially towards the end, where the endless action gets almost numbing. Still, would've been worth a ticket price, and definitely was worth a rental.
I've been living a strange, digital cameraless existence with my S2 Pro in Fuji servicing... They hopefully can make its TTL flash control behave correctly. But even so, with my computer busted, and my camera away, I'm having this odd sort of vacation. Doesn't feel all that bad.
I also went to the Tampa International Airport unclaimed property auction. Apparently these things have become so famous that everyone went there looking for hidden treasures. The offerings were pretty slim; most was junk, cheap cameras, binoculars, beat up old cell phones etc. Everything even remotely valuable had been hand picked and was sold separately. Much of the stuff was sold in huge lots. It was way too crowded, and a lot of people never got in, and many that did never got a chance to look at the goods. So, now I've been to a US auction, and the auctioneer was fun to listen to, but there were no bargains to be had, and no voyeristic views into full suitcases of unknown people. In other words, don't bother going.
Beyond that... Saw a couple of movies.
The Returner is a Japanese sci-fi action flick. It qualifies as a B-production by American standards, and in fact is very easy for western audiences to watch. Especially for people with interest in Japanese culture it is definitely worth seeing, and it seems to have a certain charm to it.
Kill Bill II was a less gory, more cinematographically interesting ending to Kill Bill I. It continues to showcase Tarantino's eye and borrowing from all manner of genres. I don't like the way Tarantino uses his talent, but I have to admit that he certainly has some, and he's brought several excellent Asian titles to the US market, which I applaud.
Paycheck. A John Woo movie I missed in the theaters, based apparently, if loosely, on a Philip K. Dick short story of a man who does jobs so secret that his memory of them gets erased. After one of these jobs he finds himself hunted by all manner of people and with a bag of random knick-knacks instead of the huge paycheck he expected, and needs to find out just what happened during the time for which he no longer has any memories. The premise is way cool, and Woo does what Woo does, that being fast-paced, interesting action. A bit too much, though, especially towards the end, where the endless action gets almost numbing. Still, would've been worth a ticket price, and definitely was worth a rental.