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?

27 April 2004

Movie Log

It's been a while since my last movie log. Here's most of April. Note that several of these are shorts, which makes the list look longer. Still, if I'm going to do this I shouldn't let so much time lapse between updates.

All of these are theatrical screenings unless otherwise indicated.

3-23 A Thousand Clouds of Peace (Hernández)
3-26 La Captive (Akerman)
3-26 Night and Day (Akerman)
3-27/28/30 Shoah (Lanzmann) [DVD]
3-30 With Sonia Wieder-Atherton (Akerman)
3-30 Pour Febe Elisabeth Velasquez, El Salvador (Akerman short)
3-30 A Voice in the Desert (Akerman installation)
3-31 Big Animal (Stuhr)
4-1 My Brother's Wedding (Burnett)
4-2 Scarface (Hawks) [DVD]
4-3 Nightjohn (Burnett)
4-3 Several Friends (Burnett short)
4-3 The Horse (Burnett short)
4-3 When It Rains (Burnett short)
4-3 To Sleep With Anger (Burnett)
4-7 Crimson Gold (Panahi)
4-7 Mysterious Object at Noon (Weerasethakul) [DVD]
4-8 Nat Turner: A Troublesome Property (Burnett)
4-8 Olivia's Story (Burnett short)
4-12 Permanent Vacation (Jarmusch) [VHS]
4-13 Year of the Horse (Jarmusch) [VHS]
4-14 Le Samourai (Melville) [VHS]

4-14/15 Coffee & Cigarettes (Jarmusch)
4-16 The Saddest Music in the World (Maddin)
4-17 Last Life in the Universe (Ratanaruang)
4-17 Festival Express (Smeaton)
4-18 Control Room (Noujaim)
4-18 Metallica: Some Kind of Monster (Berlinger/Sinofsky)
4-19 The Green Butchers (Jensen)
4-19 Life and Death of a Boring Moment (Bossard short)
4-19 That Day (Ruiz)
4-19 Goodbye, Dragon Inn (Tsai)
4-20 The Missing (Lee)
4-21 Since Otar Left (Bertuccelli)
4-21 Triple Agent (Rohmer)
4-22 Doppelganger (Kurosawa)
4-23 Back to Kotelnich (Carrère)
4-23 Popaganda: The Art & Subversion of Ron English (Carvajal short)
4-23 Super Size Me (Spurlock)
4-24 Route 181: Fragments of a Journey in Palestine-Israel (Khleifi/Sivan)
4-25 The Corporation (Achbar/Abbott)

4-20/22/23/24 The Simpsons Third Season, Episodes 1-6 [DVD]
4-25 Un Chien Andalou (Buñuel short)
4-25 L'Age D'Or (Buñuel short)

Posted by davis | Link

Reader Comments

April 29, 2004, 04:45 PM

acquarello

What? No cheapie star, numerical scale, or thumbs up/down ratings on the screened films? No pithy, one-sentence zingers? What a rip! ;)

April 29, 2004, 06:28 PM

davis

I'm working on a system that involves cheeses. Hard cheeses to represent a movie's degree of impenetrability, soft cheeses to represent its level of existential ambiguity, and blue (bleu) cheeses to represent the depth of its angst. The chosen cheese will match the corresponding film's country of origin, needless to say.

The only thing holding me back is that it's taking some time to create all the different 10-pixel-by-10-pixel images of various cheeses which will appear next to each title.

Also, I've begun to suspect that my system is incomplete and may need to be supplemented with olives, an orthogonal axis representing a host of other attributes that act in harmony with or contrast to those represented by the cheeses.

But, you see, there is the problem of the pits.

August 17, 2004, 04:54 PM

Doug

So what kind of cheese does Doppelganger merit? it plays in L.A. next week...

August 18, 2004, 02:06 AM

davis

Hmm, maybe the sliced, packaged, processed variety. I suppose it's good warmed up on a burger, if you're in the mood.

;-)

I'm not familiar with K. Kurosawa at all, so I may not be the best person to evaluate this movie, but aside from a nifty title sequence, I thought it was pretty silly. It seems like a neat idea — your double suddenly walks into your life — but I would have preferred less head-bopping.

August 18, 2004, 02:37 PM

phyrephox

The head-bopping made it one of Kurosawa's most enjoyable, lightest films. It also is rather free of substance.

August 20, 2004, 11:59 AM

davis

Well said. :-)

October 13, 2004, 10:17 PM

Chris Knipp

How did you come by the video of Jarmusch's Permanent Vacation, and was it with the original English soundtrack? Some fans have been wondering where to find it.

October 14, 2004, 01:48 AM

davis

I rented it from Le Video in San Francisco. It was an English soundtrack, so I assume it was the original.

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