New Slang

I finally saw Garden State tonight, which was released in the States the weekend I left for Japan. Zach Braff made a movie that was convenient, a little contrived, a little cheesy, and poorly acted at times. He also seems to be a graduate of the P.T. / Wes Anderson Night School of Hip Direction because the whole film is awkward pauses, stiffly-framed shots, and dramatic push-ins. Except he's not nearly as gifted as the two Anderson boys. That being said, I of course loved the movie. I mean, maybe it's just because i'm the target audience for the movie, but the entire movie stank of Chang. Right down to the story that was slightly too simple and small an episode to actually be called a story (which seems to be what half of my stories turn into) and of course the hipster indie soundtrack choices. If someone asked me to make a movie, this is pretty much the exact movie I would have made in reverse - instead of leaving California to loiter around Jersey, I would take the opposite flight to loiter around Orange Country - which is a pretty embarrassing statement to make. Let's just move on.

Does anyone out there read cnn.com? Has anyone else noticed that recently they have switched to this bizarre past tense in their articles that makes every article sound like it is talking about some dramatic historical event attached to a history channel timeline? Here's an example: "Officials also were beginning to think about whether the town -- also hit by a mudslide in 1995 -- would ever be safe enough for people to live." It's that "were beginning" that annoys me - shouldn't it just be "are beginning" or "have begun"? Shouldn't news be written in present tense when it's still going on? I don't know what's going on with the editors over there. Or am I way off because I never studied grammar? Am I a dork for even caring about this? Yes? Okay. Sorry.

The sun came out today and melted the entire city meaning people weren't injuring themselves crossing the street for the first time this week. I had dinner with Taiga and then went downtown to have some drinks with Takako. Despite the fact it seems that today was warm enough for my water to not shut itself off all day, it was still freezing judging by my standards.