Diana's parents came over for dinner and a movie this weekend for Fathers Day. We watched "Citizen Kane", which seems to be commonly known as arguably "the greatest movie ever made." When this comment is made, it seems to be invariably followed up by how revolutionary the filmmaking was compared to it's 1941 counterparts.

I guess I haven't seen that many movies from the before the '60s. I don't have a lot to compare it to. Combine that with the fact that I'm generally not very aware of the technical aspects of filmmaking. I don't notice things like how the edits are done, how long shots are held, camera movements, lighting, etc. I certainly see things that make me say "Wow, that looks cool" or "that's a neat shot", but that's about it.

So I can't say that "Citizen Kane" is at the top of my "favorite movies" list. I enjoyed it, but I've seen a lot more movies that were more memorable, drew more of an emotional response, and generally made me feel good after watching them.

This is kind of a problem I have with art in general. There is this sense that I have that says that Good Art is found in fancy museums, and Bad Art is painted on velvet and sold on streetcorners. Where did this notion come from? I certainly don't believe in it, or do I? Why aren't I as good an art judge as anyone else? I'm not going to tell anyone else what they should and shouldn't like, but I can't think of a better person than myself to tell me what I do and don't like.

But at the same time, I know that I pay attention to critic reviews of movies. I don't think I let them influence my opinions, but I certainly use them as a filter towards where I spend my hard-earned movie budget. Not quite the same thing, but kinda.

Just kind of rambling now... losing... train of... thought.

Over the vacation I was introduced to the cover of "I'm so Excited" by Le Tigre, and I've been listening to it multiple times per day since. It's such a fun little song. 80's electronic femme-rock wrapped in a layer of tangy bubblegum. Or something.

In other news, I downloaded the demo for Battlefield 2 and am loving it. I think this might be the nail in the coffin for World of Warcraft. Still seeing how it works out. Fun game. I'm looking forward to joining up with some boys online.

While writing this I got an email from Liz about my IT guys post. The second part of her beef, which I forgot, was how out-of-touch they were with the company. Guys who don't know or care about what the company does and the sports it's involved with. Totally a fair beef. (I don't like speaking for other people 'cause I invariably get it wrong. Sorry!)

(This isn't a direct response to the above, but some thoughts that spawned from it...) Lots of computer guys are odd people. I'm not sure why. As a result, lots of them were teased as kids. Lots of them began their education with computers as a purely solitary activity. Many probably were never on a sports team in their lives. It's no surprise to me when I hear about computer guys have a hard time being part of a team. Working in a team is a skill all unto itself, and it's completely disjoint from being "good at computers". The skills aren't mutually exclusive, but they can sometimes be at odds with each other.

I'm thankful to have had friends growing up, been part of sports teams, etc. But I've certainly seen the guys in my CS classes who could barely carry on a conversation with another person.

Here's a quote from Neal Stephenson's "Cryptonomicon". It's a great description of computer geeks:
---
Chester nods all the way through this, but does not rudely interrupt Randy as a younger nerd would. Your younger nerd takes offense quickly when someone near him begins to utter declarative sentences, because he reads into it an assertion that he, the nerd, does not already know the information being imparted. But your older nerd has more self-confidence, and besides, understands that frequently people need to think out loud. And highly advanced nerds will furthermore understand that uttering declarative sentences whose contents are already known to all present is part of the social process of making conversation and therefore should not be construed as aggression under any circumstances.
---

Not sure how it's related to the above, but I loved it.

Now I'm completely rambling. Smell you later.