Went to see Fame the remake last night... Hahaha, that was really fucking gay. In the literal, kind of neutral sense. It was camp-chic, I suppose, if you like that kind of thing - prancing, singing, and lots of irritatingly talented people. Like High School Musical but with much less story - honestly, I've never seen the original, but I assume it had a story; this one was just a sort of moron's introduction to bildungsroman or something: Cliché, obstacles to overcome, undiscovered talents, borderline supernaturalism, an almost-suicide; Austen would've been proud of it. Or really disappointed. Probably disappointed, let's face it. No, I can't level too many criticisms at it, because I suppose it did exactly what it intended to do: Entertain, and show off. And it did feature an excellent dancing scene, set to Black and Gold by Sam Sparro - which is an incredibly good song; so for that alone I would watch the film.
I have to say though, amusingly, the best part of the film was watching the trailers for upcoming releases. Not only is the Michael Jackson unreleased footage coming out soon (not that I'm going to get a ticket, as it will never happen), but there's also Where the Wild Things Are. A film based on a cute book, and featuring what appears to be an incredibly adept cast: The young actor Max Records looks to be absolutely fantastic; and it was helped by the fact that the trailer is set to Wake Up by Arcade Fire - a truly inspiring and uplifting piece of music. So, yeah, that looks excellent, and hopefully it won't disappoint, as too often films with good trailers do.
Speaking of which, I am seeing The Invention of Lying next Wednesday - and, yes, I know it's Ricky Gervais playing himself; but it's irresistible, the man himself is a magnet, and it's impossible not to enjoy his arrogance and narcissism. I also like the premise of the story, I think it's better than something like Bruce Almighty, though it obviously follows the same prototypical storyline (this is presumption): He can lie, he lies, he hates lying, gets the girl after some kind of trauma between the two.
The plan for today is somewhat... lethargic. All I have to do is nip out and buy a birthday card, and mail it away - that's the limit of what I've got planned for this Thursday. I suppose that's OK, because I have another 500 pages of Middlemarch to read before Monday, and it's some of the most difficult reading I think I've ever had. It makes no sense really, well, I suppose it does if you look at the facts of the book, and the facts of my tastes.
I hate realism, for starters; so, obviously, I have an inherent bias against this text, before I've even started reading it. Yes, I'm sure it's a cutting-edge opus of social satire in the gentrified 19th Century; but in a way that Shakespeare avoids, it doesn't really stand the test of time in an empathic sense. You can admire the writing style, and the unbelievable, clinical attention to detail - it's an incredibly colourful landscape that she writes, and her vocabulary is astounding... but... it's impossible to follow; nothing happens. And I'm not just saying that, I mean, in terms of any plot device, nothing happens. The study of realism focuses on satire, focalization, realism, and the like - and ergo is innately tedious. Annoyingly it is the main text that I'm studying this semester (although there are another... 9 or so that I need to get and read), so we'll probably end up reading it twice, and skimming it more than that. I'm sure it's the archetype work, that all work aspires too - but that doesn't mean it's good. I'm sure it is good, but it's not to me. Which is all that matters.
So yeah. That's October: Hungover, coffee, mail, reading, sleeping, cooking, sleeping.
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