I watched Northfork tonight. I didn’t think it was possible for a movie to be visually beautiful, boring, and confusing all at once. I was wrong. I don’t think there was a contiguous three minutes in which I had any clue what was going on in this film. There seemed to be some parallel between the evacuation of a town because it was going to be flooded by a new dam, and the dreams of a dying child who imagined he was an angel whose wings were amputated. I suppose I could have put more effort into trying to understand it, but I suspect it’s not worth the effort.

I’ve finally decided. I’m going to get the Canon SD630.

It’s a nice little camera with a big screen. It was tough to decide for a while. I almost bought a Panasonic DMC-FX3 on account of its generally more sexy appearance.

But that would have made me a traitor to the Canon family. Plus, although the Panasonic takes better movies, which was appealing, my goal is not to take movies, but to take snapshots. The Canon, with its fast processor and lower digital noise, will be better for photos of friends at parties and stuff.

The only thing I haven’t decided is whether I’ll have it sent to my sister in Seattle so she can bring it home for Christmas, or if I’ll buy it when I’m in San Francisco.

Ahhh I love these. You can’t fake this kind of retro!

“… for sale!”

I watched most of Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai. I didn’t get to see the whole thing because disc 2 of my 2 disc set doesn’t work at all. Anyway, I guess I can’t give much of an opinion of it. It’s old, that’s for sure. Made in 1954, it’s considered a classic. I was starting to enjoy it, although it was very slow to develop. It even has a 10 minute intermission built into the DVD, in which a couple of big Japanese characters fill the screen. I assume they say, “Intermission.” After the intermission, the film picks up momentum heading towards what I assume is the final battle scene, in which seven samurai hired by a poor village of farmers eventually fights a band of bandits who want to rob and destroy the village. Unfortunately, my copy ends abruptly at disc 1, and doesn’t have this final battle scene. Boo!

I’ve already written a blog with this title, but it still fits. I took Jen to the airport yesterday. It was sad to see her go. After two months of living with someone you get into a certain pattern and comfort level. But, I know I’ll see her again soon, and we’ve got a lot of fun things planned for my next trip to Europe. Hopefully we’ll get to take a train to Russia and see St. Petersburg and Moscow.

Anyway, my place feels very empty now. I’ve come home plenty of times in the last couple of months when Jen has been out with friends, or sleeping, or whatever. But this definitely feels different. I’ll get used to it soon, but it was a bit lonely for sure.

In other news, I booked a flight today. It was a bit of a snap decision to go, but I decided to take James up on his offer to go down to San Francisco to hang out him and his brother over New Years. We’ll check out some concerts, do some skiing, and just chill. I’m looking forward to the getaway. New Years and the holiday season here has the potential to be a bit depressing this year, so I’ll make like a tree and leave for a bit. I’ll be gone from December 29 until January 7.