mellowSo far, of all the current movie releases this month, I think the best one has to have been Seven Psychopaths. A close second is Cloud Atlas, but the latter is difficult to follow as there are too many characters emulating the same person during a different plane in space and time. Seven Psychopaths is easier on the brain, if the genre you enjoy most is psychological thrillers.
Also, I've seen the new James Bond flick Skyfall and it has it's own treasure troves. Whereas many of the Bond films usually included high technology gizmos that appear to be anything but what they appear to be, a ball point pen that can emit a laser beam strong enough to cut thru metal, a wrist watch that doubles as tracking device, a sports car that has a bunch of weapons to deflect deadly assaults, etc. this particular sequel seems to have a fetish for antiquities and vintage traditions. So, I guess if you like manual typewriters and rotary phones, you'd like this movie about as much as I did; although, the movie I specifically went to see because I read an interview of Tom Hanks collection of vintage typewriters was Cloud Atlas. Go figure. I mean, that I prefer movie genres that are dark and unpredictable, the closest these past couple months have come to a psychological thriller is Seven Psychopaths. And that's a comedy!
I wanted to see Argo, Looper, and Silver Linings playbook but there isn't enough time in the day (or night) to spend sitting in a dark theatre while I can enjoy fantasizing how badly Hollywood is going to produce a best seller like Stephen King's 11/22/63. That was an awesome book. I read my 3-inch thick book on an e-book device. Really, I read it on my i-pod touch and it all worked out well. Yes, it's small and I've considered upgrading to a mini ipad, but I still have plenty of memory space in my ipod as I always try to get the maxed out version of a computer whenever possible. Not that it matters because it seems the world of digital media is soon becoming a cyberspace controlled library.
Have I mentioned anything about Gracenotes? I finally discovered how and why downloading a music CD (for PC users, I guess the term would be 'ripping') automatically fills in the track titles with the song titles if your computer is linked to the Internet while downloading. If you don't have Internet, one must manually type the song titles onto each track before downloading. Hah! Who knew that computers could automatically connect to the Internet without even an Internet browser running? And how does Gracenotes do it? Does each song contain a signature so that Gracenotes knows the title, or does Gracenotes listen to the song that's about to be converted to MP3 and identifies it that way?
Anyway, if it isn't movies, I'm watching the news and lately what's been getting a lot of coverage is the bullet train that is supposed to be built from Los Angeles to Las Vegas. Apparently the organization that is overseeing this construction is getting a late start and people are concerned about the Federal financing that will need to be paid back if the project doesn't meet it's deadline.
Here is a fancy interpretation of what's really going on. You see, since the last elections, I believe I've seen laws being passed in Colorado that had legalized marijuana for recreational purposes. This has not happened yet in Los Angeles and I can only guess the reason is that Angelenos like their pot strong. Medically strong. Now, if it's illegal to smoke pot in Vegas, then it's only logical that a bullet train to and from Vegas to L.A. is going to reap a lot of business for medical marijuana growers. I can't help thinking that that was the foundation for suggesting a bullet train in the first place. L.A. likes the idea of smoking illegally for recreational purposes. If you get headaches, cramps, eating disorders, all those things (and some) can justify a medical marijuana card. So how can I sit here letting everybody and their granny smoke industrial strength cannabis without complaining "where's mine?" I go bars, lounges, taverns trying to mix and mingle with other drinking enthusiasts, but what I don't know is that some of those lounge lizards are probably just passing the time there trying to get their head straight from their high. What better place to sober up than a bar, right?
That's right. My own take on the Federal loans for a bullet train all narrow down to Los Angeles and their industrial strength pot. You know what I'd really like to see, what with all the technological advances in DNA and what-not? this chemical THC, is it something aliens have devised to take over the earth? Where did it originate from? I mean, lots of plants have their own built in defense mechanisms in the form of poisons, thorns, nectar, flowers, etc. My question is how does THC function as a mechanism for the plants own benefit?