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To say this is my least favorite time of the year is something of an understatement although I try, try, try not to get too bogged down in negativity. Thus, as I was slogging over rainy roads yesterday, I kept reminding myself: But you LUV Christmas lights! No, really! You do.
Uh – if you say so.
One of the reasons I hate this time of year is because I find it so horribly difficult to motivate myself to do anything. Is it the lack of daylight? Is it that I miss being married? And the coming holiday is all about family togetherness? (Although B and I are in such constant communication that one might say I’ve retained all the best parts of my marriage, minus the sex.)
What happens is that I start thinking algorithmically. As though I’m a Sim! With a list of ordained actions magically grafted on to me by some supernatural intelligence! That I have no personal stake in completing. (Reference being to my all-time favorite video game. And who doesn’t love building a room without exits for their Sims so they can watch those Sims slowly starve to death?)
###
I did absolutely nothing of any significance yesterday except watch Christopher Nolan’s The Prestige for the upteenth time, trying to figure out exactly where this movie goes wrong. Because it’s so close to being a great movie.
The book is a really difficult novel, but then Christopher Priest is a cold, cerebral writer. Brilliant, yes. But not exactly comfort reading.
And I think I finally figured out where the movie goes wrong: It uses Angier as the POV character, whereas the novel focuses on both Angier and Borden as POV characters. The Borden parts of the novel are written in a first person singular that’s filled with inconsistencies, makes absolutely no sense whatsoever until the reader finally realizes – approximately two-thirds of the way through the book – Oh, of course! Borden is two people!
Some of that remains in the movie, and those parts are very well done – those quick subliminal exchanges between Borden and Fallon; Sarah’s observation, “No, today you do not love me” -- but only if you’ve read the novel.
If you haven’t read the novel, they’re too subtle. They fall flat.
The identical twin subplot and the Tesla subplot are equally compelling in the novel, which revolves around them like a planet revolving around a binary star. For reasons of economy, though, the writers had to distill them into one plot when they drafted the screenplay. And it alters the gravity. Makes it less substantial.
Uh – if you say so.
One of the reasons I hate this time of year is because I find it so horribly difficult to motivate myself to do anything. Is it the lack of daylight? Is it that I miss being married? And the coming holiday is all about family togetherness? (Although B and I are in such constant communication that one might say I’ve retained all the best parts of my marriage, minus the sex.)
What happens is that I start thinking algorithmically. As though I’m a Sim! With a list of ordained actions magically grafted on to me by some supernatural intelligence! That I have no personal stake in completing. (Reference being to my all-time favorite video game. And who doesn’t love building a room without exits for their Sims so they can watch those Sims slowly starve to death?)
###
I did absolutely nothing of any significance yesterday except watch Christopher Nolan’s The Prestige for the upteenth time, trying to figure out exactly where this movie goes wrong. Because it’s so close to being a great movie.
The book is a really difficult novel, but then Christopher Priest is a cold, cerebral writer. Brilliant, yes. But not exactly comfort reading.
And I think I finally figured out where the movie goes wrong: It uses Angier as the POV character, whereas the novel focuses on both Angier and Borden as POV characters. The Borden parts of the novel are written in a first person singular that’s filled with inconsistencies, makes absolutely no sense whatsoever until the reader finally realizes – approximately two-thirds of the way through the book – Oh, of course! Borden is two people!
Some of that remains in the movie, and those parts are very well done – those quick subliminal exchanges between Borden and Fallon; Sarah’s observation, “No, today you do not love me” -- but only if you’ve read the novel.
If you haven’t read the novel, they’re too subtle. They fall flat.
The identical twin subplot and the Tesla subplot are equally compelling in the novel, which revolves around them like a planet revolving around a binary star. For reasons of economy, though, the writers had to distill them into one plot when they drafted the screenplay. And it alters the gravity. Makes it less substantial.
