I just saw A.I….actually, endured would be a bet…
I just saw A.I.…actually, endured would be a better way to describe the experience. The pace of the movie started out extremely slow and never sped up, while plot devices were leaking all over the story, with the actors running around like small Dutch children, trying to prevent the inevitable hemmoraging of the audience’s suspension of disbelief. Yeah, New York looked cool under water as always, but do aliens really communicate in grainy 8-mm images? When I saw the aliens themselves, I couldn’t help but think: damn, they must have some kick-ass diet programs in the future.
I found myself looking around the theater for something more interesting than what was going on on the screen, which is not usually a good sign. Mmm…curtains….exit signs….seats…..(sigh) ok, I guess I’ll watch the screen and see if there’s anything interesting happening there. I did burst out laughing when one of the characters said, in all seriousness “It knows how to love; that means it knows how to hate.” And I did feel in all honesty as if I were actually there, physically sitting inside a glacier for roughly 2,000 years, staring at a statue. Spielberg was able to convey that feeling quite well.
It turns out that, while Kirk can watch movies, he still has to eat vegetarian fare, so we parted ways at the theater. On the way home I was turning off of a traffic circle when I was actually stopped and ticketed for -get this- turning right on red in a traffic circle. I was under the impression that circles don’t have corners, but it turns out I was just being naive. The cop asked for ID, license, registration, the whole bit, and then gave me the option of paying NT$350, NT$800 or NT$1,800. “Uh, I’ll take the…NT$350 one?” I replied, wondering if it was a trick question, if there were any weird consequences…”Ok, you pay NT$350, and then next Tuesday you will be forced to discuss the details of personal hygine with Vice President Annette Lu.” But it appeared that there was no difference except in price. I wonder who picks the NT$1,800 tickets? Rich people that want to show off? What kind of special services does one get for NT$1,800? Back massages? I’ll probably be hearing from Annette before long.
