Wednesday, February 09, 2005

OK - so Shrove Tuesday sounds more like it. Anyways, somehow I becaem the religious expert yesterday when people on team were asking what Lent was for (my v. basic thought/answer - to understand suffering that Jesus went through). And why for the period of time up to Easter ?? 'It is 40 days & 40 nights. Isn't that how long He went without food or water? Have any of you seen the movie with Josh Hartnett..its the same idea - big sacrifice in the name of something'. I don't know where/how I picked up these scant details, guess its al a bit pop culture these days.

In other news I booked my flight to Sweden - I leave the Wednesday before Easter and return the next Tuesday. I am flying into Stockholm and staying with Natasha (from PEI) in a small town nearby called Vasteras. Am going to spend next few weeks figuring out where I want to go in the country - definitely going to Karlskrona (sp?), where the university offers masters course in The Natural Step, as I believe that may just be the next step for me. It'll be interesting to see how the Swedes celebrate Easter - be they havne't got 1lb Allen Easter Bunnies (mental noet - ask/beg Jen to bring me back an Allen all for myself).

Went to see Ray last night - a biopic of Ray Charles. Excellent movie, although I must admit I always enjoy it more when you can really like the person and, well, you couldn't really like Ray a whole lot - he wasn't that nice to those that loved him. I have discovered however, that this is the reality of life - there are many people who take those who care about them for granted. So, in that respect, I do believe the movie did his life justice by portraying the good, the bad & the ugly.

One thing I got to thinking about during this rather long film was that no one really benefits from a long-running film. It costs more to produce, the cinema dosn't charge higher ticket prices and sometimes the cinema may be unable to play as many movies in that theatre in an evening. Audiences, in my experience, don't really enjoy a super long movie either-a movie is an investment in time and 3 hours is perhaps a bit too much for people who have to work, eat, etc.

So why do they do it??? I still don't know. All I can say is that Quentin Tarantino got it right when he sliced (pardon the pun) Kill Bill into two Volumes - twice the opporuntity for ticket sales and rentals, a captive audience, etc.

I used 'The Book' again. So very empowering. Details will not be forthcoming, but suffice to say I will be having hot chocolate with the girls tonight.

Possible Good Movies to Rent:

Dodgeball
Good Will Hunting
The Incredibles