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?

18 June 2004

This Week in SF

Coming up this week, one item on TV and the rest for folks in the Bay Area:

Twentynine Palms — Bruno Dumont's latest movie opens at the Lumiere today, but it's already notorious, and I've been reading and reading about it for so long that I think I have to go see it, now. I've been eager to participate in discussions about the movie, assuming there's anything to say about it.
Napoleon Dynamite — I haven't seen it, but it looks like the kind of movie that makes the people who run Landmark salivate. We get to show this? They do, starting today, at Embarcadero. Here's the trailer.
Band of Outsiders plus Seligman — Today the PFA is showing this Godard classic and Craig Seligman will be there to introduce the movie and sign copies of his new book, which looks at the careers of Pauline Kael and Susan Sontag, especially how they approached Godard. I haven't read it, but I dig Band à part.
Frameline 28 — Another week means another film festival, and this week it's the SF International Lesbian & Gay Film Festival. I've actually seen The Adventures of Iron Pussy, believe it or not, which the festival is showing a couple of times, and while I'm not necessarily recommending it, it's worth pointing out that it was co-directed by Apichatpong Weerasethakul, the Thai director whose latest film just won the Jury Prize at Cannes.
Farmingville — This one's on TV. I may try to tune into the PBS series P.O.V., which has a lineup of interesting documentaries scheduled for the summer, starting on June 22 with Farmingville, a film about conflicts in a small New York town between long-time residents and day laborers. It could be worth a look.

Posted by davis | Link

Reader Comments

June 20, 2004, 07:20 PM

acquarello

I'd agree that you should see Twentynine Palms anyway, especially if liked Dumont's earlier films. It has all the ingredients of his earlier work until it goes hideously awry (IMO anyway) in the last ten minutes or so. But it is so off track and mean spirited that the audience reaction after the screening is almost an experience in itself. :)

July 1, 2004, 01:42 AM

davis

Unfortunately, I haven't yet seen his earlier work, but I wanted to catch Twentynine Palms while I could. I'll try to catch something else on video soon.

Anyway... yeesh. Hideously awry is right, although there may be some method to the madness. I'm still mulling it over and will post some more thoughts in a day or so.

Unfortunately I had to squeeze the movie into a weekday matinee, so the theater had a handful of other gluttons for punishment on a sunny afternoon. Not a squeeler in the bunch, I'm sad to say. Just stoic pros. :-)

July 1, 2004, 12:27 PM

acquarello

Cool, looking forward to your comments. I think I've mentioned before that I really didn't know what to completely make of the film just after the screening, and it was the Q&A with Dumont afterward that really made me feel more negatively about it. I was kinda hoping that some aspects were more like bad judgments or poorly executed ideas rather than being intentional elements in the film.

Anyway, the Rendez-vous with French Cinema series is always a mixed bag: half are hardcore cinephiles while the other half are more like French expatriates getting a taste of being home (There were plenty of wine and cheese receptions along the way, none of which I attended because it involved losing my seat for the next screening.). Part of the entertainment for me was hearing a lot of choice words in multiple languages being shouted after the screening. :)

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