I Must Know

I check my access logs every day. I like to see who's looking at me, and what they're looking at. Yesterday, there were 63 hits for yesterday's Paperwork entry. There were 66 hits for the entry from July 8, 1996, which is all about last year's visit to the San Diego Comic Convention.

I must know why this entry was so popular. If you happen to know, please tell me.

Yesterday Darin and I went to LA Confidential, which we both loved -- go see it. When we got to the theatre, there was a big line for tickets, and we thought it was for our movie, but it wasn't. The line was for In and Out, which surprised both of us.

After the movie, Darin and I went to have a very late lunch and discussed the movie for the entire meal. We could see how it was squeezed down from a larger novel -- there are a few too many things that happen coincidentally so that the main characters are involved in everything -- but it's wonderful nonetheless. Great acting, great story, great way that it was all tied together. It had Kevin Spacey and David Strathairn in it, what more could I ask for?

I liked it so much, I want to see it again, and I don't know when the last time I wanted to see a movie twice was.

I think Salon's review of the movie sucked.

When we finished with lunch, we went back to the theatre to see In and Out. Yes, it was the rare two movie day.

We couldn't have seen two more different movies. Dark and moody versus light and frothy. Well-written versus...well, as Darin put it: "You think Paul Rudnick delivered the script three days after Scott Rudin came up with the idea?" There are so many scenes in the movie that are funny -- Kevin Kline listening to the tape, for instance -- that are just visitations from another dimension. If you stop to think about them too much, they explode under their own weight.

And try to ignore that it's the Oscars one day, and high school graduation about four days later. In case you haven't noticed, the Oscars are always at the end of March.

Listening to audience reaction at a movie like this is pretty funny. The guy next to me actually hurt my ears by laughing loudly at everything. And I mean everything. Stuff that wasn't funny. Stuff that wasn't even meant to be funny. You begin to think after a while that someone is just a little nervous about their own reactions to the subject matter.

At one point Tom Selleck kisses Kevin Kline (you couldn't possibly not know this if you've heard of the movie, which is why I don't mind mentioning it). An audience member shouted out, "Sock him!" Riiiiight. Okay. Then, after the wedding scene, Kevin Kline's father goes to his house to see how he's doing. Another audience member opined, "He hung himself."

Are these people just a little nervous? Because clearly they weren't paying attention to the tone of this movie at all.

Still, it was popular enough I'm wondering if this is going to be the number one movie this weekend. Which would be kind of cool.

Right now I'm watching Stanley Kubrick's The Shining. I find this to be a very dull adaptation of a frightening book. For one thing I can't stand Shelley Duvall, who squeaks her way through the entire flick, and for another Jack Nicholson is wacky from the start. Jack is good at playing creepy guys, but not when they're supposed to start out reasonable. It's a pity the TV miniseries a few months back was too overblown.

Redrum, redrum.

Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics

I slept for 11.5 hours last night. Mind you, I didn't have a stressful day yesterday, and I went to bed early. Still, I slept for half a day. I have no idea what that's all about.