lucky day for me today, or maybe i just skirted being unlucky. had been waiting for a ups delivery which somehow eluded me twice despite having been home at the time of attempted delivery. three strikes and they return item to sender. i havent tried on the item yet so maybe the universe was trying to save me the trouble of doing so later in which case i ought to pay closer attention to not being attentive.
but as it is i had put a note on the door asking the delivery person to sit on the buzzer and if there was no response i left my cellphone number on the it as well imploring them to call so i would not proverbally and literally strike out. as it turns out i was dozing off around lunchtime like every other normal person does but off in the distance i hear the phone ringing. its a new phone and im not that familiar with the ring so i am not quick to respond. i jump to my feet, grab the phone and engage in the swiping and the pressing of virutal buttons frantically but to no avail as the call is missed. i dart over to the intercom (in my head, in reality its loping at best) and engage in more frantic button pushing but there is no response on the other end. i grab my jacket, run my fingers through my hair and slip on my flip flops making haste for the street hoping to catch sight of a vision in brown, not even sure if it had been they that had called.
chirst, im already bored. a truck was there and it had my package but they hadnt even rung yet. the call was some spammer (i looked it up). probably a better than 50% chance i would have heard the buzzer or the call had they endeavored but maybe 15 minutes later im in a deeper sleep state. so thanks, spammer. you werent a blight on humanity for once in your pathetic life.
but the story does not end though i wish it would. now that im practically engaged with the day i decide to walk to whole foods as my cupboard is bare and im tired of deli sandwiches. so, on go the hiking shoes, still no socks (who has time for that?), and i begin the hunt for my black wool hat. nowhere to be found. retrace my steps... blah blah blah. 10 minutes later, last ditch effort, i head out to see if it fell out of my jacket pocket and there it is in the middle of the crosswalk, dampened but undaunted.
so let that be a lesson to you, dont be me.
I reckon Cuba is about to go down the tubes.
Wild -- Reese Witherspoon shows a lot of range in this flick about struggle. The backpacking made me remember the years I was into backpacking. I wasn't the type to walk in five miles, plop down and set up a tent. From my perspective, it wasn't real backpacking until 10-15 miltes from the trailhead, well past the people wearing sandles and carrying a sack lunch. The sort of journey in Wild is a whole different level of commitment.
IMAX 3D HFR -- That's the format I chose for viewing the latest Hobbit. The high frame rate (48 Hz I believe) and lack of film grain give the slow moving parts of the film an "uncinematic look". Since this film seems to be mostly battle scenes, the 48 Hz is welcome. It allows motion to be smoother.
In the first Hobbit, there were some effects that looked clunkier in 48 Hz than 24 Hz. I attribute this to the fact the 24 Hz, by being clunky, hides clunkiness. There was some of this in Hobbit Part the Third in HFR, but not much.
I don't know whether to attribute it to cinematographic choices, or the 3D, but there were a few scenes that felt like I was looking at a miniature, sort of the effect one sees in tilt-shift without being tilt-shift. This was distracting when it happened.
according to my twitter feed tonight is the first night of jewish christmas.
the other one
someone just posted a bunch of these low budget late 70s - early 80s teen sex comedies. im not sure i can resist. this one sounds familiar but i dont recall seeing it.
Binge watched and very much enjoyed season 1 of Transparent An amazon original, the pilot is free and if you sign up for the free one month trial of their prime service, so are the other episodes.
Uncertain about the uncertainty principle?
should i watch the sure thing or a susan sontag documentary? or maybe the question should be -- will they show daphne zuniga topless on tcm? id better watch to find out.
an oral history of boogie nights.
making an R.M. Felts genuine Southampton country ham from Virginia this holiday season.
spent the night babysitting a friend who has come down with a somewhat debilitating case of marital discord. two things we learned: 1) my years of not keeping up with my intergender studies has diminished my capacity to provide useful advice on such matters beyond suggesting they should seek professional guidance. 2) an ashtray full of cigarettes in the morning smells worse than i remember.
on the plus side, we did find a pretty good hole-in-the-wall burger place in the east village.
this is a word.
