Saturday, December 8, 2001

I’m just back from having seen Harry Potter and the Sorceror’s Stone. I liked it a lot; I enjoyed myself tremendously. I have minor issues with it, but considering that this was an attempt to faithfully reproduce a fantastic book, it was remarkably successful to my eyes. Perhaps my greatest disapointment lies in John Williams’ score, which is merely good. That’s impressive, when you get right down to it.

Meanwhile…I had a good time at the Coffee and Classics book club this morning; we stayed on-topic, and discussed a pretty straightforward section of The Pilgrim’s Progress, in which Christian and Faithful encounter and repulse Talkative (he who readily gains head knowledge, but neither applies it to his life, nor stands by any of it if challenged). This particular passage was easy to interpret, which made for a pleasant change from the rest of the book.

I then took care of some standard errands, before wasting several hours in front of the boob tube. Ah well.

While I was out, I applied some advice I’d read somewhere: Every so often, buy a magazine that you’d never otherwise have bought, and read it. Broadens the horizons. So, I bought the latest issue of People magazine. It’s fascianting.

People magazine, fascinating? Not its content; it’s the perspective behind the magazine that amazes me. Within these pages, celebrities are everything. Stars dicatate how to dress, how to treat your friends, how to have a successful marriage (the comedic possibilities there are endless), and practically every other aspect of life.

Now, celebrities can be as wise as any of us, but what makes their advice so valuable? Why do people spend three bucks a week to receive the wisdom of a bunch of actors, singers, comedians, and others whose only common trait is wide visibility? And there’s 160 pages of this stuff.

I also saw The Matrix the other night, and boy was that an interesting let-down. I enjoyed it, and it did some very impressive things, but…. Folks, this has all been done before, and done better. The Matrix was a decent attempt at live-action anime crossed with Hong Kong action film sequences. It handled them well, but it certainly wouldn’t be counted among the best works of either of those genres.

People are strange.

Oh, and I received an ICQ message from Robot B9 today, informing me that NieA Under 7 volume 3 is now shipping from Amazon.com. The internet is a cool place, if that sort of communication happens.