INSOMNIA!!!

A sickness slowly climbed upon me as I returned to work. I think I'm off work again from this Tuesday till March 2 so maybe I can recover. But it's hard to sleep when you're nose is plugged up. I think I'm kind of sick of this country too. I have about four months left and I probably would abandon ship if I didn't get bonus pay, a pension refund, my apartment deposit, and a plane ticket home at the end of the contract. So I'll stick it out.

You all saw Joaquin Phoenix on Letterman, right?


I've heard some people say it was all a hoax for the documentary Casey Affleck is making about Phoenix's transition to rap, and other people say he's drugged out and needs help. My theory is that the whole hip-hop transition thing is semi-orchestrated a la Borat for the documentary, but that to really immerse himself in the role he actually believes it himself and may be on some kind of drugs to flesh out the role, and that he won't even realize he's acting till he comes out of it at the screening of the documentary and he'll snap back to something like his former self like someone coming out of hypnosis.

I don't think Letterman was "in on it" and believe he was genuinely annoyed by Phoenix. But who knows, eh.

I watched Kenneth Branagh's As You Like It. Starts out kind of weak by about halfway through I began to like the actors and thought it finished nice. Good music and atmosphere. I like the version with Laurence Olivier better though, even though Olivier didn't direct it.

I tried to find a torrent of the soundtrack but could only find another Patrick Doyle OST: 1998's Great Expectations. It's a good soundtrack too.

I think I will try sleep again now.

Shakespeare in Gay

Man, life is so weird right now.

I saw this article "Japanese youth goes berserk, kills 7" and thought, "Do people really 'go berserk'? Isn't that kind of description fifty years old? And reading the article I thought, do we really need to put anime and manga in quotations in 2010 or whatever year it is? And was it really supposed to be a balmy Sunday?" And I love how they got a jaded Indonesian tourist to bemoan the decline of Japanese civilization. Why does mainstream news feel more and more like it's written for four year-olds?

I'm hoping to go to San Francisco tomorrow to take care of some business. Today I went hiking in Bodega bay. Cue not very exciting picture!



I've been reading and watching Timon of Athens by Billiam Shakespeare. It's about a generous rich guy in ancient Athens who's heading for a fall. To my delight I finally found torrents of the BBC Shakespeare productions! I watched most of them years ago and can't wait to burn them for the duration. They're a mixed lot and I recommend you at least watch Richard II, Henry IV Parts 1 & 2, and Henry V (in that order). Oh wait. You guys hate Shakespeare. Never moind.

A complete volume of Shakespeare makes a great oracle. You just ask it a question...
"What should I be doing now that I'm not doing?"

...and flip to a random page and line and get your answer...
York: Ho, who is within there? Saddle my horse.

Of course! I should be saddling hos! Thank you, Billiam Shakespeare, for enlightening the masses. Now get me out of Camp Meeker!