A Mirror Floating in Water

It seems that I have been gone for a long time and in my laziness I wrote off a short and ambiguous post upon my return. Maybe it was just a little bit of smirky cleverness that I was so brief, it also had to do with my being busy that day. Well here's an explanation of where I've been:

Nowhere. My computer merely crashed on me Halloween night and I had to wait a few months before I could buy one. In the mean time I utilized my school's computer which blocked every-other website including literature network.

I hope to catch up soon with everybody, though I've been quite busy and being away has distanced myself from this wonderful community.

Anyway, throughout the last two months I've had the deep pleasure of reading Madame Bovary, The Great Gatsby, among others. Most notably I re-read two of my favorite Shakespeare plays, and thus two of my favorite works of literature, King Lear and Henry IV. After reading the former I've become more and more convinced that there is nothing in world literature as powerful and painful, and in the case of the latter, I don't think Shakespeare ever wrote a play (or rather plays) more perfect nor made a more joyous character than Falstaff.

As for films, I've finally become a converted fan of Jean-Luc Godard's later films, most of which I used to hate. I had this epiphany after seeing Passion, which I think is his masterwork to date.

I also had the infinite pleasure of seeing for the first time two of the greatest of the greatest films I've ever seen; one, a Japanese film directed by Kenji Mizoguchi Sansho the Bailiff, indeed one of the most powerful and almost unbearably painful experiences I've ever had at the movies. The other, Werner Herzog's exquisitely moving documentary on the deaf-blind community The Land of Silence and Darkness. Both would easily make my top ten films of all time.

I also saw Bela Tarr's great seven-hour masterpiece Satantango for the first time, which is even better than the great Werckmeister Harmonies and is most likely the best film of the 90's.

Now that is all.