dsng.net - the daryl sng blog: May 2003

Live from New York, it's Saturday night!

Mmm. I knew how much I missed New York, but it's still good to actually be back. Katz's and the Second Avenue Deli, I salute thee!

Uncanny

Just watched X2. Brilliant stuff, and I love the bigger improved role for Rogue, my favourite of the X-Men. (X-Women, I suppose.) But the question remains: couldn't Iceman just use his powers at the ending? Also, it's interesting that the women all seem to have it together (Jean Grey and Storm fly the plane, Mystique's a computer whiz), while the men may have powers but they're all neurotic as hell - the tortured Wolverine, the repressed Cyclops, the uncertain Nightcrawler. Speaking of Nightcrawler, it was interesting to see Alan Cumming in a less campy role for a change. And I liked the way Bryan Singer managed to give moments to a whole panoply of X-Men, not just the big roles but also Siryn, Jubilee, Gambit, Kitty Pryde... apparently there was a Beast sequence too but I missed it. And Ian McKellen as Magneto escaping from the prison - brilliant action sequence, beautifully realised.

Favourite Simpsons Episodes

10 great episodes of the greatest television show of all time. Plus, my favourite of 300 reasons to love the Simpsons: "Ideally, you should be able to watch each episode anew at five distinct stages in life. As a toddler, marvelling at all the bright colours; as a teenager, enjoying the tilts at authority; as a student, relishing the in-jokes and movie references; as an adult, musing on the truths about life, love and death; and in your dotage, marvelling at all the bright colours."

3F18 22 Short Films About Springfield - the showcase of stories for the various secondary characters. "'An Aurora Borealis? At this time of year?... Localised entirely within your kitchen?' 'Yes' 'May I see it?'"
4F18 In Marge We Trust - Marge becomes the 'listen lady', Homer is Mr Sparkle. "Baboons to the left of me. Baboons to the right."
5F18 Natural Born Kissers - the one where Homer and Marge can't stop having sex outdoors. "It was people! People soiled our green!"
CABF06 Skinner's Sense of Snow - a snow day leaves the kids in school. "You did it Nibbles! Now chew through my ball sack."
2F09 Homer the Great - the Stonecutters episode. "Who controls the British crown? Who keeps the metric system down? We do! We do!"
4F11 Homer's Phobia - the one where Homer thinks Bart may be gay. "Dad, why did you take me to a gay steel mill?"
2F12 Homie the Clown - Homer becomes a Krusty knockoff. "The same Benedict Arnold that plotted to surrender West Point to the hated British?"
3F05 King-Size Homer - the one where Homer gains weight to be on disability. "'It's like a lottery that rewards stupidity.' 'Stupidity, eh?'"
4F20 Treehouse of Horror VIII - including the one where aliens take over Clinton and Dole. "We are merely exchanging long protein strings. If you can think of a simpler way, I'd like to hear it."
BABF19 Behind the Laughter - the Behind the Music spoof. "They told us what to wear, how to dress, which clothes to put on."

Trystero

Wow - a new piece by Thomas Pynchon. How fitting that it's an introduction to a new edition of Orwell's 1984, given that Pynchon's own works sound simultaneously fascinated and repelled by conspiracy theories (see V or The Crying of Lot 49).

Looking back through time, it's clear that I've been blind, I've been a fool...

Just spent the last 45 minutes playing David Gray's "Babylon" and Ryan Adams' "New York New York", tributes to London and New York respectively, two of the cities that I really love. Then I viewed the Mike Figgis video for "Babylon" - the moment where the crowd is miked up and comes in the chorus just makes me so happy. Which is the point to say, I'll be in New York for the next 3 weeks so updates may become slightly sporadic.

[Words I love: sporadic; peripatetic; snickersnee; facetious.]

Watching Too Much TV

Oh great, I've finally recovered from economy-class syndrome caused by watching too many Singapore Film Festival movies, and then I realise I'll be in New York for the Tribeca Film Festival...