Transformers

The other day I saw Transformers. Apart from proving yet again that the special effects technology is getting better by the minute, there was something about the film that struck me as odd. It was unusually choral for a film of this genre, although I am no expert. Could it be Spielberg's hand? Whatever the case may be, I found it intriguing that so many characters had so much to say and do in such an action-packed film of robots crushing each other into metal pulp.

Somehow, among all the noise and fury, everybody manages to do their bit towards saving the world, from the nerdy male lead to the all-American soldier to the black fat-assed slightly queer computer hack. Females also join forces to play clearly leading roles which smack in no way of the traditional subordinate niche where they used to be confined.

It's a kids' film and I am nearly 40, so, predictably, even though I like to think of myself as a sci-fi fan, the film started to grow old on me after the first 60 minutes or so. Maybe that's why I used my viewing time to analyse it like that. ANYWAY, still undeterred, I am now looking forward to Fantastic Four.

My top 10 TV shows

I have just put up my top 10 favourite tv shows of all time (scroll down). I may change my mind about some of them, but right now I feel grateful for all the good times, sense of language and, yes, insight, which they have given me. I suppose it all depends on what your approach is.
To me, viewing these is, as Sinatra would put it, a many-splendored thing. One single episode can offer several readings: you can focus on what they say, how they say it, body language, let alone different cultural assumptions and expectations. I think one of these days I'll expand on this.

historymakers

I have just read an article in The New Yorker about Ronald Reagan's diaries. It quotes Tolstoy as saying in his War and Peace: "It is only unself-conscious activity that bears fruit, and the man who plays a part in a historical drama never understands its true significance".
I am still blinded by the truth of it, so I cannot continue writing.

O the flying fish.
The seagull darts.
Waves of the boundless ocean.