A belated appraisal of several things:

Monday, I finished Shop Class as Soulcraft. Impressive. I haven't read a book with such a challenging vocabulary in at least five years. I didn't understand at lease six sentences in two hundred pages of intense philosophical dispensation merely because I was unfamiliar with several words therein, nor any derivatives of the same family tree of words. A few other sentences made little sense because I was trying to grasp the larger philosophic argument. As inspiring as The Fountainhead or Atlas Shrugged, but nonfiction. As my own experience [namely going for a B.F.A. that essentially taught me how to build fake houses for fake people] demonstrated, Crawford elucidated: Those with great intellectual capacity find validation in the physical expression of a problem solved. A person can't be a mechanic, or a carpenter, or a welder, or a plumber, or for that matter a lumberjack, without possessing the kinds of problem solving skills that can only be learned by physically interacting with one's medium and having a high quantitative intelligence. I think Seth Godin's Linchpin will be a good follow-up. Shall let you know after I've read it. Shop Class is definitely on the list of books that offer life changing insights into my humanity.

Tuesday, I read Stayin' Alive: Armed and Female in an Unsafe World. I do put myself firmly in the "everyone should carry a gun and know how to use it and after the first ten years, violent crime would be literally nonexistent" camp, but Paxton Quigley goes a bit too far. Make my bedroom into a Panic Room indeed. I need not be paranoid, which is the feeling I get from her style. Though she tries to sound empowering, it comes across as "If you're female, people view you as an easy target and you WILL be attacked". Not my cup of feminist tea. I am interested in pursuing the tactical shooting competition thingies. And getting my concealed weapons permit. But golly. Your neo-feminist tripe marketed by a picture of yourself, wearing a powersuit, smiling demonically, holding a semi-auto just makes me want to puke. Or else shove a toothbrush down my throat so I can puke. Not recommended.

Tuesday I also watched The Departed. Wow. It almost ended like it was European. The good guys died! For a movie with Matt Damon, Leo Di'Crapio, and Jack Nicholson, it was intense. It was gritty. It was hard to watch. And, it was Art. I felt for these guys, and normally I just laugh at them for failing at acting.

By the time I finish my morning blogroll,

I have read 11,583 words. Not including the links I clicked through. Those comprise another 4,819 words. I have also read one page of Shop Class as Soulcraft and decided I need to keep a pencil with said book.

In the beginning...

Upon the realization that I average one film per week, and read far less than that, I decided to keep a record of the movies I see, the books I read, and my reaction thereof in an effort to increase my retention of all and the frequency of the latter. As I have several hundred books on my wishlists, and at least thirty in my bookshelf though unread, this shall serve to promote accountability through the chronicling of my progress in contrast to the more escapist media of film. It shall also prove a reference as to which films I find necessary to own.

Since 1 January, 2010, I have read Lucifer: Exodus [Volume 7] in its entirety. I have also begun Shop Class as Soulcraft and Pride and Prejudice but finished neither.

[Note to the uninitiated: when I take to reading mainly picture books it signifies the overwhelming of my mind, particularly bouts of depression where 150pgs of words seem a daunting mountain of doom.]

Since 1 January I have seen It's Complicated, Daybreakers, and Sherlock Holmes. Sherlock was enjoyable, It's Complicated was funny but would have been genius if I had been genuinely drunk, and Daybreakers... failed with epic proportions. See, the premise is great "What happens when there are more vampires than humans and the blood supply will only last a month" so you expect it to be what District 9 turned out to be, aka an arthouse film that got mainstream distribution and challenged our views of morality and racism, but Daybreakers turned out to be the shootemup gorefest you though District 9 would be. And it had a totally sophomoric ending. Bah. Humbug.

Also, after Christmas but not necessarily in the new year, I saw Ninja Assassin. Absolute EYE CANDY! B or D movie plot, impressively predictable [two almost surprises in the whole movie at most], but Mary Mother of God was it gorgeous. The lead, whose real name appears to be Rain, has a body all 300 Spartans would kill for. And he's not CG. Three times as many stuntman were employed than actors or visual effects artists. And the blood effects... Brilliant. They had to have had a painter on the set at all times, ready to fling fake blood everywhere. At least 10,000 gallons had to have been used. Imagine Kill Bill, then make it ten times as bloody. Utterly enjoyable simply because the cinematography/storyboard could have been done by Da Vinci. Or Warren Ellis. An absolute must own, joining Let the Right One In, Doomsday, and District 9 on that list. Of the aforementioned list, I have acquired El Laberinto Del Fauno [Pan's Laberinth], The Princess Bride, and The Adventures of Baron Munchausen [not recommended for roommates or parties]. And having thought that Star Trek would be on that list, after seeing it on the small screen, I have nixed it.

I suppose in the future I should link to IMDB or Amazon with my titles. Bother.