Ah, the joys of cat baiting

Now before you all get your pitchforks out to stick me for something so awful, let me explain. I'm eating rice noodles, the really thin kind. As is her habit of late, Charlotte is interested in my food. Until... a noodle swoops down from above to -splat- right onto her nose. I still hold the other end of this noodle, and wave it about in front of her. She tries to eat the noodle, but it keeps getting caught in her whiskers. How adorable. She finally gave up the chase and wandered off to let me blog some. But she'll be back.

This morning I was met by an odd processional. As I turned onto Slide, three police cars, sirens silent but lights flashing, turned onto my street, one right after the other, all spooky like. I've no idea what was going on, as there were no loud screams or gunshots, and while I've long suspected certain neighbors of indulging themselves, I doubt it takes three cars to take care of a little mini-lawn. And those neighbors have been so quiet for so long, I have begun to think they moved out.

Today is another warm one here in Dirt Town. Lately it's been downright late Spring-ish around here, and sticky as all get out. But for all the clouds and humidity, no rain to show for it. Ah well. We are the houseplants of the Lord. He'll catch us before we turn brown and wither away. (He's a much better plant-parent than I am - my poor aloe vera plant bit it last week, and the begonia is a near second.)

Quick question. Why do people think that I can, as I leave the building a little after 5:30, suddenly fix a printer? Especially when the charge is: "the printer in [location omitted] is making loud noises when it prints." I mean, I was obviously leaving the building, for the night. The implication made by tone of voice, posture and expression was that I would accompany [name omitted] upstairs to diagnose the printer. Right then. Because it was my job. Ah, such things make me laugh. The only reason I remembered the incident at all is because [name omitted] took my advice and emailed a ticket about it. I'd have forgotten. (And you'll note that I did, or I'd have blogged about it when it happened.)

I'm going to have to talk to my film professor. His name will be Mr. Film. We're studying film here, but I'm not sure where it's going, or how it'll get there, or even whether I'll still be on board when it arrives. I've analyzed films, studied them in their context and out of their context. I'd like to think I was at the very least not a complete novice. This is a film adaptation class. It follows that we are reading original works and studying how they were adapted to film. That we're looking at the process of adaptation. What have been doing, however, is how the films are shot. Scene by scene. There isn't any discussion of the deeper issues of the film. There is only brief discussion of differences and the possible reasons for these differences. It makes me wonder why we're studying adaptations. Why not any other film?

So I'll need to sit down to Mr. Film's office hours some time this week and ask him to guide my thinking, because I'm rapidly becoming lost. I was all set to do Trigun. There's a lot of meaning in Trigun. There's a beauty to the characters that goes deep down, and almost nothing in the series is there for a superficial, just-for-show reason. I could write five papers on Trigun without scraping my barrel o' thought. Problem is, if we're supposed to be looking at the way a scene is shot, at the technical aspects (where is the camera, what angles are used, how is it panning, etc.) and then at what's revealed by those aspects, then Trigun may be more than I can chew at the moment. I've heard that it's a 2 minute rule. Your 30 minute presentation discusses a single 2 minute clip. Or less. Can we say YIKES!

In this case, I can still go with anime, probably. I have all the Hellsing manga, and can obtain the anime. I have plenty of RuroKen in both forms. I could get the specific manga that deal with the Samurai X OVAs. But I'm not sure what I'll be doing with the paper. I don't know where to go with it. What to think about, or to watch for.

And that's about all my "deep thinking" for tonight. It's a shame Waterworld isn't an adaptation. Some great shots there.

Love and Peace.