I hurt myself today
I had a strange craving tonight. A Taco Bell craving.
It's been like 5 or 6 years since I have eaten Taco Bell...and it was about half an hour after my meal whenI realized why.
Never again.
holy crap am I in pain right now
:(
-B
Labels: random
We go together 'cause opposites attract
I thought that this week would be "The week of me". After an improbable victory in fantasy football, and a solid win in my madden league that solidified a space in the playoffs, and a good week of research for my work...I figured my soccer team was a shoe-in to take the whole thing in the playoffs tonight. Alas it was not to be. Cancel my travel plans to Vegas.
I really did think we had the best team this season. Hopefully we'll get another shot at it next season. Man...we played awful tonight.
-B
Labels: sports
I feel so good if I just say the word Su-Sussudio.
Here's something I'm tired of hearing, "I saw the movie, but the book was way better".
I'm sure I've said it too, but I've resolved never to say it again.
Here's why: Comparing books to movies makes no sense.
Let's take the example of "Hurricane".
I'm sure there are plenty of people who saw that movie and expressed a similar opinion as the one above. But almost nobody says, "Yeah I saw the movie Hurricane, but the Bob Dylan song is way better."
Why not? I mean they are both about the same things, they both tell similar stories with the same characters. Yet no one thinks of trying to qualitatively compare them to one another because they are quite obviously two different mediums of expression. Just like movies and books.
Now...It's fair to say that novels can frequently tell a more detailed story than a movie can...So when people claim, "The book was way better", I suspect they are judging their experiences using only that as a criteria.
However there are multiple things that go into a cinema experience that a book could not hope to compare with.
You rarely hear people say, "The book was okay, but I liked the special effects, soundtrack, set design, acting, editing, and cinematography in the movie much better". It just doesn't make much sense to compare the two media on those terms.
Book purists...Or people who are too afraid that they will look like philistines...Will frequently pull the "theater of the mind" card on you when you dare to defend cinema as an equally viable way to tell the same story a novel tells. They will say something like, "I like the book because it lets me picture each scene in my own way, and it's always better than how the movie does it".
In some ways that's fair. Characters never deliver "poor performances" in the books I read. However a well put together film can put forth incredible multi-media interpretations of the written word, that can often times resonate in a different but equally enjoyable way. A well directed film sequence can pull emotional levers in the viewer that just don't exist in print...Specifically because your being engaged in a completely different way.
Not to mention the fact that a visionary interpretation of those words can be exciting to watch specifically because they will likely be different than how you picture a certain scene in your mind. Much like hearing one of your favorite songs re-done, or covered, by a different artist.
Plus...Unless you are a master musician, artist, and photographer...I doubt you're capable of reproducing the same sort of sound and images in your mind, that professional artists can deliver to you in the form of a film.
I think a good example of how movies are different from books come in the "horror/slasher flick" genre.
I can't think of a way an author could simulate the surprise and shock that those movies can elicit when the killer jumps out of the shadows to attack their victim.
At the same time, a book can better describe things like smells, and interior monologues...Things that just don't translate as well in film (voice-overs tend to take the viewer outside of the story in movies, where the interior life of book characters tends to immerse you more).
This is not to say that you have to love movies. You might be a book person more than you are a movie person. More power to you.
Maybe you didn't enjoy the movie "The Firm", but you quite enjoyed the book. That's also fine.
What doesn't seem right to me though is expecting a movie to deliver the same experience that a book does, and then critiquing the film based on how closely it resembles a book.
-B
Labels: rant
