Robotmedia

Saw Robotmedia XIII. Several hours of mindless drivel. Really, out of twenty submissions there was only one legitimate film. Back at Showcase IV there were only a handfull of films but they were all great. Ryan Landes even apologised afterwards via email:

Well first off I'd like to apologize for the crappy audio at last night's showcase. I'd like to apologize to the filmmakers who put in so much effort and then were forced to watch their creations be mutilated by the VLSB speakers. I'd also like to apologize to the audience for presenting a show that was not as good as it could be.

Last night Alex and I went to Adaptation at Wheeler. It's hard to understand the point of the film since there are so many levels of metadrama, but in the end we concluded that it's a pessimistic tale: by selling out, you succeed. The first half is painful to watch—really, watching someone wallow in self-loathing and self-doubt while making no progress on a big, important project is only so entertaining. It certainly hits too close to home for anyone who's had to do as much as write a term paper. Then things suddenly get entertaining with Charlie sells out—goes to the seminar, invents a sappy, fabricated ending with a sex-and-drugs-and-chase-scene plot twist. It's a successful card trick performed in slow motion -- the audience is duped into believing the fabricated ending despite their knowledge that it is a fabricated ending.

The Being John Malkovich reference is funny and adds to the self-reference. Charlie Kaufman really did write the screenplay for BJM and Susan Orlean really did write The Orchid Thief. How much of this fiction is actually true and how much of this is an inside joke? The extent to which the film deals with the trials and necessity of `Adaptation' is successful, and also the seminar man's spiel about how "this really does happen in real life—people do change, etc..." could be taken as a message, but to me it pales in comparison to the selling out. The self-reference is cute and not surprising considering it comes from the same brains that brought you a film that hypothesizes what would happen if someone went through a portal into their own mind.

I've been sick but I'm feeling better now.

I've started making a packing list for my departure.

I saw Bean today and she blew me kisses.