Errata is a web journal written by Robert Davis who has neither spent a night in a ghost town nor pulled a turnip from the earth. He doesn't even know if turnips grow in the ground. Perhaps on trees, like candy corn. Therefore, Errata is a non-commercial project.

Observation #1: It may be appropriate, when leaving a movie theater, to say "mysterious."

Observation #2: It may be appropriate, when leaving a movie theater, to say "mysterious" at the top of your lungs. Bring your eyebrows together before you say it. Effective!

Observation #3: Same for books. Even at libraries.

There is a prize for people who correctly guess the thing about Metropolis, Nevada.

Except where the text specifically states otherwise, Errata's vagaries are indicated vaguely and its authors are indistinct in the traditional way of the Internet, except where the authors lay claim to their work. In some cases Robert Davis lays claim to work that is not his own but has been abandoned like so many ghost towns. Except where held presently, fistfuls of dirt are suspended via dispersal, or dispersed via suspension (in the air), and thus their dissolution is their transcendence, or their transcendence is their dissolution. And yet our eyes tear, and our vision is impaired, demonstrating for the umpteenth time that one entity's gain is another's fit of sneezes. Except where indicated, storms shall outlive the clay upon which they rain, unless storms are improperly delimited by their clouds, which dissolve, rather than by their inevitable return. Thus the clay loses, unless the clay is said to own the storm, to use it to make itself heavy, to make itself cling to white garments, refuse dispersal, cake upon the facades of abandoned buildings, and sit like Man [sic] upon the earth where it is pelted by a storm that it owns. In which case the clay still loses, if you ask us.

Some of the above is legally binding and should be considered a mental contract between Errata and those upon whom it acts. The bit about the prize should be considered an overstatement insofar as prizes differ from dirt and prize dispersal differs from dirt dispersal. Please recall that ownership is a weight and, therefore, hope that you do not win the prize.

One day Errata or its representatives will call upon you for a favor. It is expected that you will hop-to without delay.

You may contact Robert Davis by email unless it's about the rock that was thrown in anger. The rock is more properly called a clod. Why do you continue to raise the topic?

14 September 2003

Translation from Comedy

One of the biggest disappointments for me last year was Punch-Drunk Love. I had high hopes, not only because I like Paul Thomas Anderson's sense of style, and not only because he was coming off of a very large movie and aiming for something quieter, but also because it starred Adam Sandler.

Not that I'm a fan of Adam Sandler. I liked some of his bits on SNL, but I was looking forward to the movie because underneath many a good comedian is a certain amount of sadness or anger. Asking a comedian to play a serious role can be interesting, but asking him to play essentially the same character he always plays but in a more serious or thoughtful context can be fascinating.

Punch-Drunk Love has its moments, but the movie to see is Lost in Translation, the new movie by Sofia Coppola starring Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson. With the two movies under her belt, Coppola has been very good at biting off just as much as she can chew. I can't wait to see the kinds of movies she's making in ten years.

Lost in Translation is a melancholy, even sad movie, but I think Bill Murray has never (never) been funnier.

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