Highgate

Wednesday

The Tenant

I took the week off, i thought after about 8 months of working pretty munch non-stop on websites it'd be nice to take a break from it, especially since the last one was such a rush job it left me feeling pretty drained, and general disdainful of certain higher-ups.

Imagine this "We want you to redesign this website that was originally coded by Russians we hired on the cheap, but use AJAX, multiple user levels, and integrate back-end administrator functionality. What? Oh well, yes we said one month, which is completely ridiculous as it is, so we thought instead we'd give you 3 weeks.... (one week later) aaaaaaaactually, 2 weeks. Thanks. What's that? oh no we don't actually have all the features we want ironed out yet, but we'll get them do you when we do..."

So i thought i'd take a week off, just to relax, recoup a bit, clean the house, read some books, take some drives, teach myself some proper javascript / ajax - and watch a bunch of movies since i just got netflix. My first three choices were "A Man for all Seasons" "Paths of Glory" and "Rashomon" so far we've watched Rashomon, a study of the nature of truth, which i found enjoyable, although a bit tedious and long. Today we're gonna watch Paths, and hopefully a man for all seasons, so that later tonight we can go and see "The Host". So many movies.....

Last night Jenny JB and I watched Polanski's "The Tenant" thanks to Jenny's recommendation... What a film. Polanski is one odd duck, and i couldn't love it more. He really knows how to make films like no one else; and to fill those films which such unsettling weirdness, and pervasive dread. This one so far even surpassed Rosemary's Baby in the weird quotient, albeit it, at the expensive of the over-all coherence of the film. Though i get the impression he wants us to wonder what happened by the end of it.

To give an example of one of the MANY explanations of the film here's one from the Wiki page.

From the presence of Egyptian symbols displayed in props in many scenes, a reincarnation theory could be derived : Trelkovsky and Simone are in reality the same person, which would explain the scene where Trelkovsky sees himself in his apartment. It follows, that that the scene where Trelkovsky stares at Simone is the very same scene, subject to a curious time warp. The bathroom represents a funeral chamber (as denoted by the hieroglyphs), which places Simone in this scene as a mummy, because of her appearance.
Interesting isn't it? This was the last in his Apartment Trilogy that includes Rosemary's, and Repulsion, which is next on the list. I should also mention, that i am the Greatest Sega Dreamcast Tennis Y2k player the world has ever known. JB eats dog poop, even if he's playing as Pat(ricia) Rafter, or either of the Williams'... My Monica Celese has the backhand of power!

5 comments:

jay said...

"Repulsion" is my favorite Polanski film; I think you'll definitely enjoy it.

You just reminded me of why I burned out doing creative work for a living--ridiculous deadlines & no respect for the concept that good work takes time. It can be pretty frustrating, especially when people just assume you're "playing on a computer" all day.

gd said...

dude, crazy taxi, im telling you.
its hot....

also there are all sorts of weird mods you can do to a DC to play nintendo games and other weirdness....

Tanner M. said...

I know what you mean Jay... i'm hoping there are firms out there that respect design times... but i figure i'm paying my dues for the time being.

Greg - i've got Crazy Taxi on my list - i hear it is great; i'll let you know when it comes in, i've read a bit about the DC modding community, it's pretty interesting. I think i might get another one that i'll use strictly for modding. btw, i hear the new Oak sounds awesome :)

Anonymous said...

"The Tenant" is in my top 5 of all time.

And I can attest that creative "work" can be a drag. That's why I'm hoping to be a day laborer when this gig is up.

the le duo said...

tanners nintendo hard-on he's been dragging around for 18 years has definitely made him a great played, be it sega tennis or anything else, but I'm new and fresh and learning fast and soon I'll kick his egotistical ass up and down this apartment...