Just got back from seeing "Troy" for the almost-second time... I went to see it on Wednesday, but the film burned out when we were twenty minutes from the end, so I went to see it again today. This time, I did manage to see the whole thing. It's excellent, and I do recommend it. I also recommend you see it on the big screen... this is one film that will lose a lot at home unless you have a really nice home theater system.
Rather than give much of a report on the actual film -- many other film critics have already done that -- I thought I'd offer some observations about the experience itself.
I don't know how long the cinemas have been doing this or how widespread it is, but I noticed for the first time today that there's a large LED panel at the back of the theater. When the film is running, this LED panel captions the film with the letters reversed, and hearing-impaired patrons get "subtitles", apparently, by setting up some kind of special mirror and reading the captions in the reflection. Neat.
Absolutely un-fucking-believable comment near the end of the film from another theater patron a few seats away from me. I swear I am not making this up... the guy actually said, "Hey, I'll bet someone is hiding inside that big wooden horse." (He sounded completely serious.)
Amusing errata: this film is set 3,200 years in the past, but plainly visible in at least one scene, Achilles has a vaccination mark on his left arm. Which is funny not just because vaccinations didn't exist back then, but even if they did, the needle wouldn't have been able to penetrate Achilles' skin, according to legend. (This is not the first time the vaccination mark has given Hollywood trouble, either... the same error occurs in Elizabeth Taylor's "Cleopatra", and probably in other films as well.)
Another odd errata: one of the major characters is killed with a spear to the chest, then as his body is being dragged from one scene to another one, the spear simply disappears. I can't understand blatant continuity errors like that. It's easy for continuity editors to miss more subtle ones -- such as Sam carrying Frodo on his left shoulder, then his right, then his left again, in "Return of the King" -- but mistakes that obvious really should be corrected.
It appears that Orlando Bloom is required by federal law to be an archer in any film he appears in, including this one. (BTW, why is this guy such a heartthrob? Admittedly, being a heterosexual male, I'm probably not the best person in the world to judge, but I don't consider him handsome at all.)
Although James Horner's score is occasionally overbearing, it's pretty good for the most part. I especially liked the score for the battle between Hector and Achilles.
And now, for a quiet evening of unwinding...
Well, first there was "I've fallen, and I can't get up." Then there was that bald loser spray painting his head. Now, late night informercials have entered a new realm of weirdness. There is now an infomercial teaching you how to make a fortune in real estate, being taught by John and Greg Rice, who are -- I swear I am not making this up -- identical twin dwarves. Denise managed to capture a few images that I hastily sent to her by holding my webcam in front of the TV -- photos to follow soon.
I hate cigarettes. I really hate them.
The Washington Post said that the cicadas stop making noise after sunset. They're liars.
Gays are getting married in Massachusetts now, and the world doesn't appear to be ending. At least, I haven't seen any fire and brimstone outside my apartment. (Granted, there's an insect plague of Biblical proportions, but since it's regularly scheduled programming, it doesn't count.)
Speaking of programming, the more TV channels I receive, the less quality programming there appears to be available. It seems that the amount of good TV is a constant that spreads ever more thinly as more channels appear.
High sodium meals make me depressed and anxious. This is just one more good reason for me not to order pizza or Chinese delivery.
Kevin Spacey is far and away my favorite actor -- he's been one of my favorites ever since he first appeared in "Wiseguy" about fifteen years ago. Any movie he's in, I'll see, without even needing to know what the movie is about (although I must admit, there are still a number that I've missed). His first Oscar was for Best Supporting Actor in "The Usual Suspects", but to really understand why he earned and deserved that Oscar so much, you have to watch the film twice.
The total weight of all the magazine back issues that I recently sold on eBay was about 120 pounds. Getting them to the post office was an adventure, to say the least. It took three trips and might have taken even more than that if I had thought to split them up into more boxes.
Columbia House is the worst place in the world to buy -- well, anything, really. Don't ever use them. I had to join their DVD club again recently to remember why. You practically have to have a Ph.D. in differential equations to understand their pricing (it's worse than the airlines, and you don't have a travel agent to help you, either).
I think it would be really neat to visit the South Pole. There is one company that offers tourist packages to do it. It costs a fortune. I probably won't ever go to the effort and expense.
I'm glad I went to Six Flags a couple of weeks ago. It wasn't as crowded as I feared it would be, and I guessed (rightly) that I wasn't going to have a chance to do it much after mid-May. The cicadas are now so massive out there that just walking out the door gives me the creeps. I'm wondering whether their numbers are going to increase.
No, there really isn't a point to much of any of this. I said it was random.
No, I'm still not much up to communicating, but my blog is getting a lot of hits due to mention of the Adult Autistic Picture Project in the New York Times today, so I'd better at least put up something brief. :-)
Selling on eBay is going slowly but surely, and it's definitely a nice feeling to be getting rid of all this stuff that's just been sitting around the house -- apart from having the extra income and the boost to my eBay rating, it's also good to know that all this stuff is going to go to people who will be enjoying it instead of it just sitting around my apartment gathering dust.
I went to Six Flags yesterday and got only slightly sunburned. :-) I haven't done any roller coasters in a while, so I rode four yesterday: the Roar, the Wild One, the Batwing (my second favorite) and the Joker's Jinx (my favorite). I wanted to try the Mind Eraser and the Two Face, too, but didn't quite feel up to trying a suspended open-air coaster. Especially one that goes backwards, as the Two Face does.
Today is Mother's Day, not that that makes much difference to me. The last time I called my mother for Mother's Day was about thirteen years ago. She thought I was joking -- my mother and I have never been especially close -- so I don't bother anymore.
No sign of the cicadas yet, but it should be any day now. I'm not looking forward to living thru a Biblical plague, but I'm doing my best to look on the bright side, or if there isn't a bright side, to at least make one up. This isn't an experience that happens very often, so it might be interesting or informative. (At least the cicadas don't sting or bite... that would really suck.)