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Saturday, March 13, 1999
One year ago: Raise the Red Lantern
Friday I missed out on a band I wanted to see, darn it! So don't you miss out by only reading the latest entry.
I drove up to the north end of Seattle this afternoon, to pay my cable bill. Amazingly, I paid it before they turned it off this time! As I was driving, I thought about how this is really the most useless money I spend. I don't even stick to just the basic cable; I have several premium channels and digital cable, for an enlarged lineup. And yet an entire week could go by and I wouldn't turn the television on! But the thought of getting rid of it makes me want it. I think I'd feel deprived without those channel being available if I wanted to turn them on.
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We had a Cacophony event scheduled for the evening, and my friend Nick Fraser had suggested that anyone who wanted to could get an early start by going to the 5:30 showing of Fantastic Planet. I decided to join him, both to see the movie and for the sake of group solidarity.
It's convenient that the Egyptian theater, near to me, is now the repertory movie house for Seattle. I wonder if the theater chain should have left that programming at the University district theaters where it was before, though. It seems like there would be a more natural market of movie goers there.
I met Nick in the lobby and bought myself a large mocha. Christina and Tobin arrived soon after. The theatre was mostly empty! There were previews for an animated version of "A Chinese Ghost Story" (plays in April, looks good) and the new Star Wars trailer. I did watch this second one, but wished I had stuck to my policy of avoiding it. I don't want to see everything that will be in the new movie. I'd rather be surprised, and I already know I'm going to go see it. (I think Phantom Menace is a bad name, by the way. It sounds like a pulp thriller from the thirties!)
Fantastic Planet was preceded by a short from the same film maker. "Les Escargots" showed some of the same ideas, but played for comedy -- people running around being chased by large, mysterious, threatening things. It's been a long time since I saw Fantastic Planet -- since high school, at least -- and I found that I'd forgotten most of it. I only dimly recalled a few images.
I liked the animation and the images, and the science fiction aspects were fairly well done. I don't know if the cool tone and lack of energy in some parts was because of the lack of resources at that time, or because the movie is French! The ending seems rushed, too. I still think this is worth seeing, though.
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Christina and Tobin dropped Nick and me off downtown, after going around the block a few times. I didn't realize that Tobin didn't know where the place was that we were headed, so I wasn't directing him. Jayson was the event sponsor for Stalker. We waited in the entrance to the Pacific Place mall (the new shopping block where Jack and I and his daughters saw the Wizard of Oz last fall) until we were sure that there were no more takers for the game, then called it off since three really isn't enough to play. We did some window shopping at the software store and the educational toy store, then went our separate ways. At the toy store (called "the Store of Knowledge", cute!) I bought a video of Mansfield Park -- not my favorite Austen, but I've never seen this version.
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