A slow day today. I mostly spent the day reading "Brideshead Revisited," but I also got out to see "The Squid and the Whale." There are still a lot of movies out right now that I want to see, but as of right now, I think "The Squid and the Whale" is my favorite movie of the year. I don't really like making pronouncements like that because I've found that my personal enjoyment of a movie is often tempered by my state-of-mind when watching a movie. Some movies resonate with me and strike chords only because the emotions they are evoking happen to correspond to what I what already feeling at the time. I'll then discover when rewatching the movie that I loved so much on first viewing that it really wasn't very good. But I don't think that will be the case with "The Squid and the Whale."

"Brideshead Revisited," on the other hand, hasn't yet earned my recommendation. Waugh can be an interesting author, but he often lapses into nostalgic melodrama. Plus, Waugh the person comes with a bit of baggage, so to my thinking his writing needs to be extra good to overcome my pre-disposition to dislike him and his works. And I'm not sure that "Brideshead" will be able to do that.

Comments: 0 Posted by david on 17 December 2005 at 10:58 PM

One of my pet peeves is rating systems that aren't discrete. For example, if you decide you want to give stars out to movies don't give out 4.7 stars. That's ridiculous and defeats the purpose of using stars. Or, if rating on a scale from 1 to 10, don't give out a score of 7.2. Scores like this imply a rating system that's most likely more accurate than the one you're using and leave me wanting to know how you decided not to give it a 7.3 (or worse, a 7.243).

I understand the problem. Game X got a 7 and game Y is marginally better, so you feel compelled to give it a 7.1. But that's using the wrong metric for what you're trying to do. If you want to rank the items, give me an ordered list. If you want to rate the items, pick a metric and apply it, but don't give me all this wishy-washy stuff. It's like the Siskel & Ebert thumbs up and thumbs down. Roger Ebert complains on his show that the thumbs don't show degrees of like or dislike, but he never gives a movie half a thumb down. Because doing so lessens the value of the rating.

Comments: 0 Posted by david on 12 December 2005 at 4:37 PM

It was pointed out to me today that I "have a lot of stuff." I agree. And I think its becoming a problem. I really have no space for new stuff and I buy new stuff all the time. For example, I have two closets in my bedroom. One is for clothes I wear and the other is for clothes I don't wear and haven't worn in close to four years. I also have a storage locker full of stuff that I haven't even seen in at least two years.

It's time to pare down.

Last week I threw away three sizable garbage bags full of clutter, junk mail, and unusable consumer electronics. (Did I really need two broken wireless routers?) This weekend I'm going to go through my closets and get rid of all my unused clothes. They do me no good taking up space in my closets, and perhaps someone less fortunate than I will appreciate them.

Next I need to focus on cutting down on the accumulating. But I think I'll save that for a future weekend.

Comments: 0 Posted by david on 9 December 2005 at 9:52 PM

Jeremy, Ben, and I went to the "Best Buys, Great Wines Under $15" class at the Wine Merchant's Clayton location yesterday. It cost us $15 each, but we got to sample six pretty good wines and three cheeses as well as getting a 20% discount on wine and cheese that we purchased following the class. I was pretty happy with th whole experience. The wines we tried (from memory, so this might be a bit off) were an Italian sparkling wine, a new Zealand Sauvignon Blanc (very tart and fruity), a California Chardonnay (nice nose, oaky and smooth), a Spanish old vine Grenache (awesome), a 50-50 Grenache-Syrah blend (Jeremy likened its nose to an indoor pool, but Ben and both liked it), and an Argentinian Malbec. Two of the chesses were also were very good. I left with nearly a pound of Vincent Gouda, and a bottle each of the Grenache and bubbly from the class.

Comments: 0 Posted by david on 2 December 2005 at 2:38 PM

Is anyone else freaked out by the concept of face transplants? I saw the headlines yesterday about this, but I haven't been able to read any of the articles because the whole concept just sends chills down my spine every time I think about it.

Comments: 1 Posted by david on 1 December 2005 at 11:53 AM