Welcome to Blacksburg
I've been "home" in Blacksburg, VA for a little over a week now. I've actually never really lived here before - my parents moved out here last August, right before I started my senior year of college (tear!). Thus, any impression I have of this town comes from what I can superficially take away from it, which so far has consisted of:
1) A crazy prisoner who murdered the hospital security guard and went on the lam through my neighborhood for a day...the day we moved in.
2) The Virginia Tech massacre about two months ago, about a mile from our home. (Blacksburg is pretty small)
3) Lots of friendly cows, who like apples.
4) Great views of Applachia - our backyard overlooks a valley which leads into another section of the Applachian Mountains. The view is really pretty.
5) Incredible accessories at the outlet stores - they seem to pile up and await my arrival - apparently there's no market for huge earrings and suede purses here.
and
6) These:)
)
Clockwork Orange
I saw this movie last night. I don't see many movies - no time to go to the theater, and I always rent movies and never end up watching them. I think I just have a hard time committing myself to sitting still and doing one thing for two hours unless I really want to do it, and it's rare when I find a movie I really want to watch. Although, Sherry and I watched The Devil Wears Prada two nights ago and I really enjoyed it...
But, I digress. My main grievance with Clockwork Orange was that I kept waiting for it to get interesting. The entire movie was a flat plane of no serious development - yes, there are changes that happen to the Alex (the main character), but I think the film relies solely on graphic images of violence and "shocking" sexuality to make the viewer think they're witnessing something really novel and thought-provoking. The score was good, but composed entirely of renowned classical pieces (Beethoven's 9th over and over and over), which made scenes feel so trite...when you've heard the music everywhere your whole life, you can't focus as well on what's going on. Kubrick juxtaposed jaunty music with violent scenes, but it just didn't fit - everything seemed so forced and deliberately trying to be "edgy". The weirdness (different language, strange costumes) was interesting, but not interesting enough to carry the entire film - especially since it didn't come together. There was no development behind any of these things, they were just there and never explained or expanded. In short, I didn't get anything out of the movie. I kept waiting for it to get better, or for the contents of the film to suddenly dawn on me in a new light, but that never happened. In the end, I was just annoyed that I'd wasted 2 hours on a movie that was ultimately a boring, trite...hodgepodge. In fairness, it's about 20 years old now, so maybe these things were unusual "back then", but it's not like the 80s were some ancient time that is completely beyond me.
I think many people, like myself, watch Clockwork Orange because people talk about how weird and unusual it is. The movie sounds fairly intriguing. Really, I think it's a feat that you can make a weird movie with shocking imagery so boring and flat...maybe this is the true "genius" of Kubrick. In any case, the only thing I took away from the film was annoyance. Sorry Stan - two thumbs down.
It's True.
I'm back on MySpace. Searching for MySpace layouts reminds me of why I hated it in the first place - too many angsty people whose lives are MySpace. "OMG. WHY did you take me OFF your top eight??" "About Me: my world is bullet gray and cold as death."
Titles of MySpace layouts I've run across:
Nothing But Loneliness...Since You Left Me.
Sad Dark Rose
Angel Devil Love
Fall In Love...And You Fall Forever.
Love...Can Lead to Heartbreak.
Wah, wah, wah.
America's Next Top Economist
