The "winter blahs" are worse than ever this year. The worst side effect of this is that, in order to find some kind of stimulation or fulfillment, I want to buy shit that I can live without, an unfortunate position when you're trying to pay off your debt and start getting more serious about banking cash.
Today I'm learning that hitting some dance mixes on the iPod certainly are helping me at least stay awake and focused enough to write shit in this blog that no one cares about. That I suppose is a start.
I probably have to credit some of my dissatisfaction to the job which, after almost five weeks, still doesn't have me doing any actual work, and the forthcoming work is unimaginative grunt work I probably won't like. Yet the pay is six figures as a contractor (that's assuming I didn't have to buy my own health insurance and didn't take a single day off). Yes, the notion that money doesn't make you happy is stronger than ever. Such a shame that it helps.
Last Friday we demonstrated how money can at least temporarily feed the soul. We dropped $150 on DVD's at Best Buy. What the hell, I can "afford" it, so why not? Just the initial buzz of the purchase makes you feel better!
They were good scores this time though. We got season two of Alias, one of the best shows on TV. The more I watch it the more strange it is to me that Jennifer Garner gets more and more appealing to me. Yeah, she's cute, in a very attainable way, but I'm not usually one for the athletic types.
We also got volume 2 (season three) of The Family Guy. Funniest damn animated show there is. Fox is starting to realize their mistake based on the DVD sales.
I got the Wayne's World movies, not because they're the best movies ever made, but because culturally they're significant and it's weird that I didn't have them.
We also got Desperado and Once Upon A Time In Mexico. We had not seen the second, but it was a fun movie. The scene where Salma is about to kick ass shows her at her most curvy, and fuck if she doesn't give Beyonce a run for her money in terms of celebrity bodies.
More significant though was the special features. The director, Robert Rodriguez (he also did the Spy Kids movies, The Faculty and Dusk Till Dawn), is like an independent do-it-all kind of director. He shot Mexico entirely digitally with HD cameras, edited and scored it himself at his house and on a tiny budget. His approach to making a movie is so anti-Hollywood in terms of the "time tested" methodologies and practices. For example, he tends to shoot himself, he uses a minimal crew and now that he's shooting HD, he wings the lighting (no light meters) and just keeps rolling a whole blur of takes because, well, tape is cheap.
I have to say that watching how he works is part of what motivated me to finally get off my ass and write a screenplay. His process is so raw and creative that it's something he can really enjoy.
So much rambling today. I think I'll disappear for an hour or two and visit The Apple Store for shits and giggles today.